Maximum Ride: The Final Adventure
by FantasyFan5
Summary: Post MR3. Itex keeps coming up with deadlier experiments, but they haven't stopped tracking down the flock. When twists keep being thrown at her, is Max able to keep her flock together, defeat Itex AND figure out what to do with Fang? Fax, now AU.
1. Settling in

**A/N: Hello everyone! Now that MR3 is out, I'm sure fanfiction writers everywhere are writing new stories. Well, here's mine. It's going to be slow at the beginning, and I'm just writing as we go along with out a real plan (which I never do) so we'll see how it turns out! Reviews are love! Sorry if this is all one paragraph. I didn't type it that way. I'm trying to fix it. **

"So, Max, where to now?" asked Fang, swooping past me almost without sound.

I shrugged. "Any ideas, guys?"

Nudge gaped at me for a second, and then remembered to close her mouth. "You mean…we don't have to do anything right now?"

"For the moment, no," I replied, grinning. "We're still on the 'save the world' mission and all that, but don't you think we all deserve a break after everything we were just through?"

Nudge nodded enthusiastically. "Definitely!"

"I thought so."

But she wasn't done yet. "I want to go to Rome!"

Fang and I shared a glance. "Uh…Rome?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah! You know, in Italy?"

"I know where Rome _is_," I retorted, "I want to know _why _you want to go there."

"It's supposed to be so pretty! You know, with the gondolas, and the canals, and all the statues!"

"Statues, yes. Gondolas and canals…isn't that Venice?" Iggy asked. Total piped up from his carrier on Iggy's back. (For our sanity, _please _don't tell him it's for babies.)

"Venice is supposed to be gorgeous too. In my opinion, it's better than Rome."

"Did anyone ask your opinion? Nope, didn't think so." I said, meaning for that to shut him up. "You guys, half of us just got back to the States. I really don't feel like heading back to Europe right now." I noticed Fang look at me out of the corner of my eye, but I didn't glance back.

"What about…Indiana?" Angel suggested.

"Why, what's there?" I asked, looking to my left to see her.

She shrugged. "I don't know."

"California?" asked Iggy.

I shook my head. "Too many beaches."

"That's exactly my point! The beaches!" _More like the beach babes, _I thought wryly.

"Every time we've been to a beach in the past, we're always attacked. Admit it."

"Fine," he grumbled. "I still want to go to a beach, though."

"Fang?" I asked finally. "Where do you want to go?" He shrugged. Why did I even expect an answer?

"Okay…since no one has any ideas…let's go to…" I thought for a moment. Then the light bulb went on. "I know! Chicago!"

"We could see the Sears Tower!" Nudge exclaimed excitedly.

"There're parks!" cried Total.

"People to get ourselves lost in," mused Fang.

"Hot dog stands!" said Iggy and Gazzy together.

Angel's eyes shone. "Toy stores!"

I smiled. "Alright, then. Chicago it is."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Have you ever been to Chicago? Well, let me tell you – it is _huge. _Not as big as NYC, but have you seen the skyline? It's way more impressive from the air. It was sunset of the next day when we arrived at the Windy City, and the sun's glow lit up the buildings from behind, making the view gorgeous. Fortunately, at the moment, it wasn't extremely windy.

"Wow…" breathed Nudge. That's the shortest sentence I've ever heard her say.

"What does it look like?" Iggy asked Fang eagerly. Fang described it in a low voice. I couldn't catch every thing he said.

"What are we doing first?" Gazzy wondered, turning towards me.

"We're finding a hotel," I replied. "A nicer one, for a change."

Angel and Nudge cheered. "A room with real beds!"

"Television!" chipped in Gazzy.

"Going down," I called, and swooped down toward the city.

We landed in the trees of a far corner of a deserted park. We climbed down and hopped the last few branches to the ground. "Now, let's see…we need a map or something…" I murmured to myself, doing a sweep of the park as I thought. I found a stand that was selling tourist books by the street. "Wait here," I told my flock, and started toward the stand.

"Excuse me," I asked the man selling the books. He leered down at me, revealing a mouth full of rotten teeth.

"Yes, missie?" He spoke with a lisp as well, so it sounded like, "Yeth, mithie?"

"How much for a book?"

"Ten dollars," he sneered, "and you're getting a deal."

I blinked. Ten dollars was a deal? I shook my head and forked over nine dollars. I ran before he could figure out I'd gypped him. Hey, call me a cheapskate, but a dollar is a dollar.

I waved the book in the air at my flock. "Ta da! Now, to find a hotel…" I flipped through the pages until I found the right section. "What about this one?" I suggested. "Four stars, room service…oh, never mind, it's eight hundred dollars per night for each room."

"Who has that much money?" Iggy wondered aloud.

"Beats me," I answered, still peering at the book. "Oh, here's one. Three stars, free breakfast, two queen sized beds per room. Sound good?"

There was a chorus of 'yeah' in response. "Okay, then," I said, scanning the address. "This way."

It wasn't too long of a walk to the hotel. We walked in the doors and immediately felt out of place. This place was a palace compared to what we were used to. "Tell Total to stay hidden and quiet," I whispered to Iggy, and marched up to the receptionist and gave him my best charming smile. "Hi. I'd like six rooms, please? Connected, if you have them."

He eyed me suspiciously. "Where's your parent?"

I tossed my hair over my shoulder impatiently. "Mom is over there." I pointed to a random lady, hoping I couldn't be proved wrong. "She told us to get the rooms while she took care of something. So can you get them for us?"

He typed something into his computer. "We don't have six connected rooms. We have three."

"How much?" I asked, leaning forward.

"How long are you staying?"

I shrugged. "I don't know."

"It's two hundred dollars per night."

Guess we weren't staying long.

"We'll take it."

He handed us seven room keys. "One for each of you and one for your….mother. You'll be in rooms 319, 320, and 321 on the third floor. Have a nice stay." I just nodded and headed for the stairs. It was only three flights up, and besides, elevators made us all claustrophobic. I noticed Fang giving me an odd look. What was that for?

As soon as we were in front of our rooms, Angel and Nudge swiped the keys to 319. "Thanks, Max!" Iggy and Gazzy took 320 before Fang or I could say a word.

I glanced at him. "Guess it's the two of us, then."

He nodded. "Guess so."

Oh, the joy.

**A/N: So, how is it so far? Good? Bad? Excellent? Horrible? Please tell me! This may be asking a lot, but 5-10 reviews before next update? Just a request…but I still want the reviews. (grins angelically) **


	2. Flirting?

I opened the door to our room and immediately flopped on the first bed. "It feels amazing to just lie here and not worry about anything," I sighed happily. "Don't you think?" I raised my head to see Fang, still standing in the doorway.

"I would. If I was lying on a bed instead of standing up," said Sarcasm King.

"Ha-ha. You know what I meant."

He didn't say anything, but moved to the next bed and set his pack down on it. Whatever.

I stood up. "I don't know about you, but I am taking a long, hot _shower._"

"Don't take all the hot water," he said, kicking off his shoes.

"I can't. We're in a hotel! Their hot water supply must be endless!" I said, grinning. I headed into the bathroom and shut the door.

I glanced around, in awe for the second time since we'd entered this hotel. This bathroom was fit for a…for a princess! The bathtub must have been three feet deep, and the faucet was outlined in gold. It probably wasn't _real _gold, but it looked awesome!

I shed my grimy clothes and turned on the water. When it was the right temperature – scorching hot – I turned the shower head on and stepped in, letting the water rinse me clean. Ah, bliss.

I watched as the water turned to steam, then grabbed the soap and began scrubbing myself clean. Someone knocked on the door. "Fang? What do you want?" I called.

"Can I come in?"

"I'm the shower! Hello! Of course not!"

"Unless the curtain is see-through, there's no problem."

"What do you even want in here? Go use Iggy and Gazzy's."

"Fine."

What the…? Someone's acting weird.

Ten minutes later, I decided it was a good idea to get out of the shower before I drowned myself. I shut off the water and grabbed two towels. I wrapped my dripping hair in one and dried off in the other. Only when I had finished that did I realize something very, extremely important.

I hadn't brought clothes with me into the room. Which meant I was going to have to go out into the room…in nothing but a towel. Fang would never let me live it down.

Of course, he'd seen me in a towel _before…_but that was when I was freaked out because I thought I was an Eraser. That was also when he kissed my forehead…no. Bad Max! Bad, bad Max! I refuse to think of that just now.

I braced myself and walked out of the door. I glanced around the room. Hmm. No Fang. That was weird. He must still be in Iggy's room. I grabbed jeans and a T-shirt and rushed back to the bathroom before he could come back. "Made it!" I sighed in relief, slamming the door.

I changed quickly and combed through my matted hair. I frowned as the comb got caught in the middle of a lock of hair. I yanked harder, and it went through with a ripping noise. My hair was yanked, leaving me with a sore scalp. I rubbed it, irritated. Stupid dirt. It tangles hair too well, even when it's been washed out. Oh, man. Nudge's hair must be awful. I winced at the thought of her trying to comb that mess out.

It took so long to comb half of my hair that I decided to go back out, now that I was dressed, and sit to comb the rest. When I emerged, Fang was back.

"You were in the bathroom for that long?" he marveled, raising one eyebrow.

"No. I came out for a bit. But my hair is a rat's nest! It's taking forever to comb out." As if my hair wanted to prove my point, the comb promptly broke in my hands. "Crap! Do you know if I can get a new comb here?"

"No. Why don't you ask the _receptionist_?" he asked in a scathing tone.

I frowned, wondering why he put the stress on receptionist. "I guess I could call the front desk…" I trailed off, looking at his expression. It wasn't happy.

"Whatever," he said, and flicked on the T.V.

What was his _problem_?

I went over to the phone. I ran my finger down the list of numbers for assistance until I came to the one marked _Front Desk – Dial 1. _I did so.

"You've reached the front desk. How may I help you?" asked a female voice.

"Is it possible to get a comb here?"

"Of course. May I have your room number, please?"

"321."

"Thank you. We'll send one right up."

"Thanks."

"No problem." I hung up.

"So, what'd he say? Did he give you his number?" Fang asked.

I stared at him incredulously. "What is wrong with you? Why do you keep asking all the questions about the stupid receptionist? And it wasn't him, anyway. It was a girl, thank you very much."

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe I'm asking because you kept _flirting_ with the guy."

My mouth dropped open in astonishment. "Flirting? I was NOT flirting! All I did was ask about the rooms! What did I do to make you think _that?" _

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe it was tossing your hair, or leaning way over the counter."

"I did that because I was _impatient! _Not because I like the guy! For God's sake, he's not even cute!" I was standing up now, my arms crossed angrily.

He stood as well, getting right in my face. "So guys have to be cute for you to like them?"

"NO! What makes you think I'm that shallow? Why would you care even if I _was _flirting with him? As I remember, _you _left _me._ Which must mean you don't give a dang about what happens to me!" For once, he looked astonished.

The connecting door swung open. Iggy stood there. "Hey, could you guys keep it down in there? Some people don't appreciate your yelling." He must have sensed our glares, because he said, "Is this a bad time?"

"Yes," Fang and I growled at the same time.

He smirked. "You guys are so into each other." He snickered and shut the door before Fang or I could come up with a witty retort.

Fang blew out a breath. "Max, I care what happens to you."

I had one last question. "Fang…you weren't _jealous, _were you?"

He didn't seem to be able to reply.

"Fang?"

"What if I was?"

It was my turn to smirk. "You'll never know until you tell me. After Lissa? Uh-uh."

"Were _you _jealous of _Lissa?" _ He asked, raising an eyebrow once more.

"I asked first."

"On three."

"Fine. One, two, three!"

"Yes," we both muttered, then stared at each other in shock.

"You _are?_" we said at the same time.

"This is interesting," I said.

"That would be an understatement," he replied. "And besides, Lissa's annoying. I never really liked her."

"So you kissed her…why?" I asked, tapping my foot. "At least I only kissed Sam because I was getting back at you for kissing her. You didn't even have that excuse!"

"_That _was why you kissed him? I thought you actually liked him!"

"I thought you liked Lissa!"

We stared at each other. I shuddered. "Ew. The thought of you kissing Lissa still haunts me."

"What would be a sight that didn't haunt you?" he asked.

"As in what? You and another person?"

"Yeah," he said, stepping closer. I was suddenly aware of how very close we were, how easy it would be to reach out and touch him…I took a deep breath and blew it out. Bad idea. He smelled heavenly. What? I did _not _just think that.

"Well, who do we _know? _The only girls I know besides Nudge and Angel are Ella and the Red Haired Wonder. Oh yeah, and JJ, but I doubt we'll see her again, or Lissa either. And I'm pretty sure Ella's into Iggy."

"Really?" he asked, momentarily distracted.

"Yep."

"Hmm."

"Don't tell me you _like _her!" I cried, horrified.

"Your half-sister? No! I was just thinking…if Iggy married Ella or something, you guys would really be related."

I pondered that for a minute. "Hey, you're right! Cool!"

"You still haven't answered my question."

"Umm…" There was a knock on the door. It must be the people with my comb. Yes! I was saved! Thank GOD for that timing.

I opened the door. "You needed a comb?" asked the housekeeper, smiling.

"Yeah, thanks," I replied, giving her a once over. No robotic voice. Not really stunningly beautiful. She wasn't a female version of a Flyboy, then. I grabbed the comb and shut the door. All the same, you could never be too careful.

I returned to my bed and began combing the other half of my hair. "So…your answer, Max?" Fang prompted. Jeezum. He can't just let this drop?

"Nope." Oh. Did I say that out loud?

"What if I decide not to answer?" I asked, looking up at him.

"Okay. Fine."

"Alright. I decide not to answer." Ha! I win!

"That's answer enough for me."

"Why?"

"Because. If you don't want to answer, there's something you don't want to tell me. And, you're blushing." Damn. I don't win.

"No, I'm not," I immediately contradicted, hiding my face with my hair. I was, I knew. But would I say that? Of course not!

"Max!" It was Nudge and Angel.

"Yeah, guys?"

"Our room is awesome! Come see!"

"Alright," I agreed, glad to escape from Fang. I could feel his eyes on me as I left the room.

We had to walk through Iggy and Gazzy's room to get to Nudge's. As she rattled on about the hotel, I couldn't help but let my mind wander. Guess who it wandered to?

If you guessed Fang, you're absolutely right.

**A/N: A little Faxness for you there! Thanks for all the reviews on the first chapter!**


	3. Here We Go Again

"Max? Max? Are you even listening to me?" Nudge demanded impatiently. We were in her hotel room, sitting on the beds. Angel was stroking Total, who was sitting on her lap.

"Of course," I said absentmindedly, still pondering what I should do about Fang.

"Then what did I just say?" she asked, triumphant.

"She doesn't know," Angel answered for me. "She was busy thinking about Fang."

"Angel!" I scolded, avoiding Nudge's gasp. "How many times do I have to tell you? Don't read my mind! It's rude and I might not want you to know _everything _I think."

"Sorry, Max," she said, shamefaced. Of course she was – for now. Shed be at it again tomorrow.

"I was _saying,_" Nudge continued, "When are we gonna eat?"

I checked my watch. It was six thirty. "I guess we could eat now," I shrugged.

Nudge pumped a fist in the air. "Yes!"

"What do you want to eat, then?" I asked, getting up from Nudge's bed and stretching. I had been _so _comfy, too.

She thought. "Pizza!"

"What kind?" I asked, resigned. Pizza for us was expensive. We'd need about a large pizza each for all of us to be full. How much were they again? Not cheap, I knew.

"Sausage," she said decisively.

"Pepperoni," called Angel and Total together as I walked out the connecting door separating them from Iggy and Gazzy.

"Ig! Gazzy! Pizza requests," I said over the noise of the basketball game they were staring at.

Iggy turned his eyes toward mine. "Mmm…I say sausage."

"Same," said Gazzy, his eyes never leaving the television. I rolled my eyes at his…guy-ness and went back to my room.

Fang was lying on the foot of his bed, writing something in a notebook. "Hey, Fang, what type of pizza?" I asked, coming in. Oh. Was that a moment I wrecked there? Call me Miss Discreet.

He looked up quickly and shut the notebook, as if he was five and caught with his hand in the cookie jar. "What?" He tried to say smoothly. I wasn't in the mood to interrogate him about his notebook just now. He was lucky I didn't feel like revenge for accusing me of flirting.

"I said what pizza toppings do you want? We're ordering in," I replied, lying down next to him and blowing out a breath.

"Anchovies," he said.

"_Seriously, _Fang. You're not still mad at me or something, are you?" I asked, shoving him lightly.

He shoved me back, but gentle enough that I wouldn't fall off the edge of the bed. "Nope. I'm not mad right now. I want pepperoni." I caught that _right now,_ mister.

"M-kay." I made a move to get up to call, but Fang touched my arm. "Lay still for a minute. _Relax. _That's why we're here."

"I know, I'm trying, but-" I blew out a frustrated breath – "I can't just stay in one spot. I keep checking on everyone, or thinking of Itex, or planning what to do next, or-" I was about to say, _"Thinking of what to do with you," _but I caught myself just in time.

He draped his arm across my back, making it hard to concentrate. "I understand now," Fang said. "I get what it's like to try to – to situate everyone, to lead them, keep them safe. It's not as easy as you make it look, I'll admit that. You know what? I definitely wanted you back then. And not just because I wanted you to lead."

I cupped my chin in my hands. It was getting easier to relax just now. "So you really _are _sorry you left."

"Really," he said earnestly. Our eyes locked. His hand was still on my back. I couldn't move away as he leaned closer –

"Hey, Max! Did you order the pizza yet?" called Gazzy. Aaand relax time goes 'poof!' Way to wreck the moment, Gazzy.

I blinked and finally looked away. Fang moved his arm and moved away as well. "Not yet, Gasman, hold on," I called back. I rolled off the bed and picked up the phone directory. "Where should we order pizza from?" I asked Fang.

"Pizza Hut," he replied. Was that disappointment in his expression? Or was it just me?

"Pizza Hut it is, then," I said, dialing the number. I punched in the last number with a dramatic flourish.

I ordered our pizza fast and prayed for a female delivery person. I didn't think I could stand another 'flirting' episode. I lay down on my own bed this time, and flicked on the T.V. "What do you wanna watch?" I asked Fang.

"Anything unless it's sappy."

"Will do…" I flipped to the comedy channel. God knows we needed a laugh. Comedy Central will definitely do that for you. Soon even Fang was laughing at the crazy skits they came up with on this one show.

A knock echoed through our room. "Pizza!" Oh, thank God! It was a girl! What do you know? God does answer prayers.

"Your turn," I said to Fang. "Get the door for me, would you?" He obeyed, a first for the day. On second thought, telling him to get the door probably wasn't such a good idea, but too late.

As soon as he pulled open the door, I could see from my spot on the bed that I was right. I had a problem. The delivery girl looked like an older version of Lissa, for Pete's sake! She even flipped her hair over her shoulder the same way – wavy, long red hair that was nearly perfect and not matted like mine had been. Yep, she and Lissa – beautiful, long hair, slim yet curvy, _human_: the kind of person I wasn't and never could be. Not even the uniform she wore could hide that.

God has the _sickest _sense of humor.

"You ordered six large pizzas?" she clarified, flashing a white, even smile. Oh, yay. Another good quality. Why was I getting so freaking jealous?

"Yeah," Fang said. I came up behind him. You know, _just _in case she worked for Itex or something and he needed backup.

_What?_ Quit looking at me that way.

She handed three pizzas to him and three to me. I shoved some money into her hand and hoped she would go away. She did, with one last dazzling smile. I shut the door, maybe a little too happily.

"What's up, Max? Afraid of a delivery girl? Or just jealous of every girl who looks like Lissa?" Fang teased. So he'd noticed who she looked like too. Was that good or bad? Oh, but for that little comment: he was so dead. I'd get him back later.

"I had the money. What were you expecting to pay her with? An excuse?" Oh! Burn! Fang – zero, Max – one!

"My good looks."

"You're a riot," I said sarcastically. I headed to the girls' room to give them their pizza. Total pouted when he had to share with Angel, but they would both get over it. If Total wanted human food, he couldn't complain about how much he got.

I sank my teeth into the thickest piece of pizza I'd ever had as soon as I was back in my room. Chicago pizza is BIG. I've heard even some human eaters who eat a lot can only eat three or four pieces. But I'm not human, so more for me!

Fang checked his blog while he plowed through his own pizza. I put on the Flock's iPod and enjoyed a moment of peace.

"Uh, Max?" said Fang. "I think you ought to see this."

And the moment of peace was suddenly gone. What can I do to just stay STILL for a few seconds, people?

"What?" I asked, abandoning my spot reluctantly and coming over to him. He pointed to the screen silently. Words weren't needed for this.

The images that we had thought were linked to my chip were flashing at light speed across the screen. This time, they were different: mutants marching in the prison yard at the Itex in Germany, Roland ter Borcht – I clenched my fists at the sight of the man – and mutants, dead, their bodies cast aside like trash. Finally it settled on words.

-Hello, Flock.-

Itex was haunting us again.

**A/N: So how'd you like it? I told you it would start off a little slow, but now we're getting somewhere! Here's where the real story starts. **

**I'm trying to keep Fang in character, but after MR3, it got extremely hard to figure out his character and know what he would and wouldn't do. So please forgive me if he's extremely OOC. **

**Twenty four reviews on the first two chapters alone! I've never gotten that many before: keep it up! **


	4. He's Baack

**A/N: Here's number 4! Thanks to all reviewers so far -I **_**really**_** appreciate it. There's way too many to list, but I replied to most of you, I hope. Tell me if I didn't. Keep them coming! Can we hit fifty before 5 is posted? You guys can do it! I have faith in you! ;-)**

_Finally it settled on words. _

_-Hello, Flock.-_

_Itex was haunting us again. _

"Well…that's not good," Fang said.

"No way, you think? Turn off the laptop," I said urgently, "quick." I scanned our room quickly, even though I knew no one was there. It was a habit. "They might be getting a signal of where we are from that."

"Oh, crap!" He shut everything down, but not before another message scrolled across the screen:

-The fate of life as we know it depends on the entire flock now. Do not fail.-

Well, _that_ was something new.

"Hey, they're letting me have help now!" I said brightly, trying to make a joke in the middle of this confusion. Why on earth were they suddenly changing their tune? One second they were all, "Die, Flock, die!" and now they're "Stay together, Flock! Save the world!" Uh, is that some reverse psychology or something? Cause it's definitely not making any sense to me.

"You have help with what?" Iggy asked, poking his head in.

"You're a little behind, Ig," I teased.

"Itex has sent us a message again," Fang cut me off before I could say anymore.

I shot a glare at him. "Thanks."

Iggy looked at me. "What did they say?"

"Firstly, you know the younger ones don't need to know about this, right?" I said, before I told him anything. "It's nothing huge."

"Fine, whatever just tell me! I don't want to be left in the dark."

"All they said was, 'Hello, Flock,' and then, 'The fate of life as we know it depends on the entire flock now. Do not fail.'" I said this in a deep, dramatic voice. "You know, the usual junk. Nothing to worry about."

"I don't know…" said Iggy warily. "You said all of the Flyboys were destroyed, but every time they send us a message something bad happens. I'd just…keep a sharp eye out for me. I'll keep out a sharp ear." He gave a half smile.

"Thanks, Iggy," I said gratefully, hooking a piece of hair that had been in my face behind my ear. Just then, Nudge burst in.

"Max! Max! They have a pool here! Can we go? Oh, _please_ can we? I swear I'll be really, really good for all the time we're here if we can _just _go swimming!" She bounced on the balls of her feet and looked at me with pleading eyes. I hoped she hadn't heard anything of what we were just talking about.

"Nudge, sweetie, there's just one problem – your bathing suit shows your wings, and there's bound to be other people in the pool," I said, trying to let her down softly. "I just don't think that we can."

"What if we went while everyone was gone?" Wow, I hadn't realized that she like swimming this much.

"There are windows," I reasoned, "people can look in. Nudge, we just can't risk it."

She had opened her mouth to say more, but Iggy said, "Nudge, probably not so smart."

"Fine," she grumbled, and left the room. Oh, NOW she listens!

I glanced at Iggy. "How come she listens to _you_? I would've been arguing for another twenty minutes."

He shrugged. "I'm just gifted, I guess." I shook my head. Honestly, the two fourteen year old guys in my flock were so…stuck up! I loved them anyway, but still. Someone needed to deflate their heads.

I checked my watch. It was nine o'clock. "I don't know about you guys, but I want to go to _sleep. _These beds look mega comfy."

"Sleep?" asked Iggy disbelievingly. "When there's so much stuff to _do _here?"

"Yep, sleep," I replied, daring him to say different. Sure, we had, like, the most stamina in the _world, _but if I wanted my wits about me for the next Itex curveball, I needed to sleep. We _all _needed to sleep. "Unless you want to be half asleep if a Flyboy troop pops along like you said, we need to sleep, Iggy."

He blew out a long breath. "I'll go tell Gazzy." We stacked and tapped and then he left the room.

"Tell Nudge and Angel too!" I called after him. I pushed my hair off of my back where it was making a wet spot on my T-shirt. "You too, Fang."

"Whatever," he said, pulling off his shirt in one easy movement. I looked away pointedly and turned down my sheets. _Turned down my sheets _– what kind of self respecting person says that?

"Did you know," Fang said suddenly, "I've figured out how to trace people who leave messages on the blog?"

I looked up, startled. "No! Since when?"

He glanced down. "A few weeks ago." Alright, slick, what are you not telling me?

"Whose comment were you trying to trace?" I asked suspiciously. "And why?"

He hesitated. "Fang…" I warned.

"There was this one person…" He stopped.

"Go on."

"They said that one of the flock was a traitor. Of course, I didn't believe them, but all the same…I wanted to trace it to see who it was."

"Who was it?" I prompted impatiently.

He opened his mouth to say the name, but noticed that the connecting door was open and swiftly crossed the room to shut it. Then he turned to me, lowered his voice and said, "Roland ter Borcht."

"No," I whispered, sitting down on my bed. "How did he find out about the blog? Did he tell anyone?"

Fang shook his head. "I don't know."

"Why didn't you tell me this _before?" _ I exploded. "That was the stupidest move you've ever made!"

"Because for once in a really long time, we were happy," he said, his look cutting through me like a sharp piece of ice. "And I didn't want to change that."

"Fine," I said, thinking about what I'd just learned instead of arguing. I seem to be doing that a lot lately. "But wait a minute – didn't Angel kill him?"

"We don't know that," Fang said, shaking his head. "She whacked his head pretty hard, but we don't know for a fact right now whether he's out for the count or not." This was great. Just peachy. (Note sarcasm there.)

I sighed heavily and crawled under my covers. "I'll think about this in the morning. G'night, Fang."

"Night." I flicked off the light and closed my eyes, but knew that sleep wouldn't come easily. Thoughts raced through my head, and I was tense, knowing that there was no one on watch and we could be attacked at any moment. It didn't help that ter Borcht had wormed his way into our lives yet again…the lying, cheating _scum_!

I gritted my teeth as I thought of ter Borcht. I wondered how Fang had traced him…doesn't that kind of stuff leave a trail? Doesn't _everything _on the Internet leave a trail? I gasped and sat up.

"Fang! Are you still awake?"

"Of course. I can't sleep." His deep voice seemed disembodied in the pitch blackness, but I could see his outline sit up.

"Yeah, me either, but I've just thought of something – if you tracked ter Borcht through his comment on the blog, doesn't that kind of stuff go two ways?"

He stiffened as he realized what I was getting to. "You're saying that if I could trace him…"

"He could trace us."

"Shit." I didn't rebuke him for swearing. I felt like saying the same thing myself.

"You can say that again."

"Shi-"

"I didn't mean it!" I rubbed the back of my neck agitatedly. "It seems like we can't do anything before they throw something in to mess us up again. We can't even sleep! Well, they can," I said, cocking my head towards the connecting door. "But we can't."

"It sucks, but I don't see right now how we can change it."

"I don't either." I sighed for the umpteenth time. "And there's no way I'm falling asleep anytime soon. There's too much on my mind."

"Stuff I should know?"

"Stuff you _already _know…" I trailed off, leaving him to think of everything I was thinking of. "Itex, ter Borcht again, and most of all, Jeb being my Voice."

"That was a little creepy."

"Tell me about it!" I exclaimed, forgetting to keep my voice low for a second. I lowered it again hurriedly. "You weren't there when I found out that…he was talking to me in that Voice, the voice that he uses to speak inside my head, and I don't know how or why he does it…" I shook my head. "It's just a lot."

"Has he said anything since you left Germany?" he asked.

"Nothing," I replied. "Not a whisper. I'm relieved…but I think something's coming. Something bad."

"Whatever it is, we'll face it when it comes," he replied quietly. "All of us."

"Thanks," I breathed.

"No problem. You should try to sleep, even if you don't think you can. I'll stay up and watch if you want."

"No, Fang, we're in a place right now where they keep watch for us. We all need to sleep," I protested.

"Relax, I'll only stay up for a bit and then I'll sleep. Promise."

"Swear?"

"I swear, Max. Go to sleep."

I gave in. We stacked and tapped and then I burrowed underneath my warm blankets. What do you know? I did fall asleep.


	5. How Does This Always Happen?

**A/N: Oh. My. Freaking. God. Lauren rubs her eyes and stares at computer in awe You guys gave me fourteen reviews in just the first **_**twenty-four hours. **_**That's AMAZING. I love you guys! Thanks for staying with me!**

I'm dreaming. I _know_ I am. Because if I was awake, this wouldn't be happening.

I was back at the time when we escaped from ter Borcht and his evil cronies at the School. Ter Borcht was saying his final words. I blew out a long breath – maybe my last – and put my hands on the bars of our cage. I glanced around for one last look at my flock minus Angel only to find: _Fang wasn't there. _

I panicked. "Guys! Guys! Hey! Where's Fang? Did he get away? Did he escape?" I asked frantically. They turned blank eyes to me. "What?" asked Iggy.

"_Fang," _I repeated. "Fourteen year old bird-kid? Tall, dark and silent? Ring a bell?"

"Oh, that Fang," said Nudge tonelessly. She pointed.

Fang was hovering silently behind the crazed scientist, gone somehow unnoticed by anyone. He looked at me and held a finger to his lips. I was instantly filled with relief – but why was he back there? I suddenly found out why.

Fang pulled out a gun and shot ter Borcht in the back of the head.

I wasn't sure whether to be happy, relieved, or horrified. Fang had just killed someone! Fang! Sure, he'd beat people to a pulp before, but he'd never just out and out _killed _someone, not even someone about to kill us. Especially not behind their back without a chance to defend themselves – not like they'd win, anyway. There was no way that was Fang – but then who was it? I was almost too shocked to move.

"Max!" he finally shouted. The voice was exactly the same…it must be him. But why was he acting like this? It made no sense! "Fly! Get out of here!" He shouted at me. I suddenly realized that the door to our cage was open. How…?

"Come on!" I shouted back, and practically pushed the rest of the flock into the air. Gunshots rang out, and I wasn't sure anymore whether they were from Fang or the Flyboys below. How'd he even get his hands on a gun? I made sure the Flock was ahead of me and flew as fast as I could without using super speed.

We'd been flying for around five minutes before Fang caught up to us. "Fang!" I cried. He looked a mess – his clothes were torn, his face bruised. The rest of the flock looked back once and then turned forward again. Even Nudge's eyes were void of emotion. Was I the only human being here? Oh, wait a second…but they were still acting weird.

"Fang, what _was _that back there?" I demanded. "Since when did you _kill _people? Even people that are about to kill us like Ari – you _never _killed."

He laughed. "I never knew how good it felt."

He couldn't mean what I thought he meant. He just _couldn't. _"What?" I asked, not sure I wanted to hear the answer.

His smile twisted his lips. That wasn't the smile I knew. This wasn't my Fang. Even his eyes were different…they were…hard, if you get it. "Killing," he answered me.

Then I woke up.

I sat bolt upright, panting. Daylight was pouring into our room. I could feel my eyes widen with fear as I looked around. I looked to my left and gasped. Fang was sitting there on my bed, looking into my eyes and holding my hand. He released it gently but abruptly.

"Nightmare," he said simply. It wasn't a question.

"You have no idea," I answered him, slowing my breathing until it was even again. I shook my head to rid my thoughts of ter Borcht's death in my dream.

"Want to tell me what it was about?"

"Not really," I answered him lightly, hiding how much the dream had shaken me. Even just seeing the _real_ Fang – the non-murderer one – had freaked me for a second after coming back from dreamland.

"Iggy's getting us all breakfast," Fang told me. "He said he doesn't feel like cooking. Angel and Nudge aren't awake yet."

"Okay," I said. I felt like I should have known all of this before, instead of sleeping in and having that god-danged stupid dream.

As if he'd read my thoughts, Fang said, "You can't be on top of everything all the time, Max." Okay. That was _seriously _getting creepy. Was he sure he wasn't a mind reader like Angel?

"I know," I said, and went to the bathroom to wash up. He seriously needed to…I don't know. Stop reading my mind?

I splashed my face with cold water to wake myself up further. _It was just a dream…_ I told myself firmly. _It didn't happen…Fang's _not _a killer…right? _My reflection lookedstraight back at me from the mirror, shocked. What was I thinking? Of course Fang wasn't a killer. Did I not have faith in him or something? I shook my head at myself, squirted a glob of paste on to my toothbrush, and picked it up to brush my teeth fiercely. I was _going _to act normal. Fang wasn't going to find out about _this_ dream.

To anyone else, this would have been just a bad dream. That's it. Something to laugh about when you woke up. But for me, even if the person acted completely out of the ordinary, they could become that way. The white coats could change them. And I could see them all too easily turning Fang into a heartless killer against his will.

I spat and stared into the sink. A pink tinge lingered before I rinsed it away. I bared my gums. They were bleeding. Crap. I've _got _to start paying more attention. I could smell bacon from the room, and my stomach practically pulled me out of the bathroom.

"What did Iggy get for us?" I asked eagerly, heading back out of the bathroom and staring at the food on the table. The other five members of my flock (oh yeah, and Total) were already clustered around it.

"Lotsa stuff!" replied Nudge, piling it on her plate. "Bacon and sausage and bagels and cereal and bacon!"

"You said bacon twice," I reminded her, reaching over Gazzy to grab my own plate.

"Yeah! I looove bacon." She grinned at me. Her face was right, happy, unlike the one without expression in my dream. I pinched myself. No thinking of the dream, especially when Angel was around. I tossed a cinnamon raisin bagel onto my plate next to around ten pieces of bacon.

I noticed Fang watching me carefully to see if I was going to act weird or distant, probably. I wasn't going to give him that satisfaction. I was fine, I tried to convince myself. I had no freaky dream. I dreamed that me and the flock were safe somewhere…yeah, I wish. Angel glanced at me and I gave her a reassuring smile. _Good morning, Angel. Good sleep?_

The troubled expression cleared from her eyes and she sent me a thought. _Fine. I didn't have any dreams. _

_Good thing or bad thing? _

_I don't know. _She shrugged and handed Total a piece of bacon. He wagged his tail. "Look at me! Wagging my tail!" he said, shaking his head. He's such a weirdo. Why can't he just act like a normal dog for once? Would that be too much to ask?

"Hey!" he cried. "Don't I get a plate?"

Apparently, that _is_ too much to ask.

"Where do you all want to go today?" I asked as we finished breakfast. "We can always just explore, though."

"I want to go and see the aquarium!" cried Angel. "It's right by here! And it's by the lake! Can we, Max?" She looked up at me beseechingly.

"Okay," I agreed. "Anyone else?"

They all shook their heads. "The aquarium it is, then," I said with finality. Fang gave me a look that said: _The aquarium? Seriously? _I smirked. _Yep. The aquarium. Seriously, _my look answered.

As soon as we stepped outside, we were bombarded with noise and sights. There were vendors everywhere, and the smell made our mouths water, even though we'd just had breakfast. There were cars and people everywhere, which made me slightly nervous. Would we be able to fly away hidden? I doubted it. But then, after that football game in Texas, being hidden was just slightly out of the question.

We walked at a leisurely pace down to the aquarium. There's a side walk that goes down there, and it's a few feet up from where the waves lap at the lake below. Lake Michigan has got to be the biggest lake I've ever seen. I can't see the edge of it at _all_. I heard that when it's St. Patrick's Day, they dye the lake green. I squinted at it. It already looks kind of green to me.

I looked up from the lake and back at the crowd, scanning for dangerous faces as we neared the entrance. Angel and Nudge practically were bouncing out of their shoes, they were so excited. I smiled. At least they got to do something fun for once.

We entered the aquarium and approached the front desk for tickets. "What would you like to see? The dolphin show?" she asked us. Then she seemed to realize that we had no parents, and her expression turned to suspicion.

"Yes, the dolphin show would be great," Angel said, before I could clap my hand over her mouth. If she was using mind control again…the attendant's eyes went blank. Yep, she was. Angel….

"So that's six tickets for the dolphin show? Alright, sweetheart. That'll be one hundred and seven dollars, please." The attendant said, ringing the number up on the cash register.

"Our mom already paid," Angel said sweetly.

"Oh, alright then," said the attendant blandly, and handed over six passes. I snatched them up.

"Thanks," I said, and ushered our flock away before the people behind us got suspicious. _Angel, _I thought to her, _no using mind control in front of humans, okay? Even if it does save us money. _I saw her nod sheepishly and promptly forgot about it.

As we took our seats for the (gag me) dolphin show, I noticed a familiar face. I poked Fang, who was sitting next to me with a strained look on his face. "Fang? That's not who I think it is, is it?"

He looked in the direction I was pointing and his eyes widened very slightly. "Headhunter," he said shortly. Oh, crap. What was _he _doing here? He was the principal of a school! Wasn't he supposed to be at school and not a dolphin show?

"Um, time to go, guys," I said, standing up.

"Why?" Angel whined. "It hasn't even started!"

"Headhunter," Fang replied. Angel's eyes widened. The last time we'd seen him, he and some other teachers had been coming after us with weapons. That's not exactly the kind of person you want to meet again.

I noticed Iggy's look of discomfort. I realized that he didn't know where our potential attacker was. "He's forty-five degrees to your left," I whispered to him, so he wouldn't feel so helpless.

He nodded. "Thanks."

Gazzy looked at me. "U and A?"

"No. We're just going to walk out of here and keep a low profile," I answered without looking at him. I was too busy scanning the rest of the area for the other 'teachers'. Yep, there was one, the one who'd jumped over the table towards me. And another – but there were only two. That'd be three adults on six bird kids. Not an even match, and we _wouldn't _be the ones coming out hurt.

We slid back along the row, not bothering to apologize for the people's toes we stepped on. I think our _lives _were a bit more important then the pain in their toes. People groaned and complained, but none of us took any notice. We were almost, _almost _to the door. Then, one of the teachers spotted us.

And all hell broke loose.

**A/N: This was supposed to have more to it, but it was getting too long, so chapter six is the rest of this! **


	6. Finally!

**A/N: At the moment, I've got sixty three reviews! Go readers! You all get an invisible cookie! And just so you know, I've nothing against anything at the Chicago Aquarium, I swear! Just thought you should know. Oh, one last thing. In chapter 4, I said that ter Borcht could trace them, but in MR3 it does say that the laptop can't be traced. Um…oops? In this story, ter Borcht has some mega fancy equipment, though. It makes sense, right? Ok, sorry. On with the chapter. **

"Why can't we just have one normal day? Just one?" I muttered under my breath as the entire audience started running toward us. Yep, you heard right – the _whole _audience except for ten people. Why the whole audience suddenly hated us, I had no idea. But about two hundred people versus six kids – even genetically enhanced kids – are a bit of a stretch.

"Um, Max?" asked Nudge uncertainly. "How come the whole audience has a grudge against us now? I mean, I know we stepped on their toes, but not everyone's toes! Look, even the kids are coming toward us!"

"They're not people," Angel said suddenly. "They're Flyboys."

"_What_?" I exclaimed. "How do you know?"

"They have no minds!" she answered, staring at the advancing audience with worried eyes. "And the Headhunter is the one controlling them!" Okay, I knew he was somehow in league with Itex, but _this_ was just insane.

"Gre-eat," I said, stretching out the word. "Flyboys – version 2.0." Now what? I racked my brains. Run or stay, run or out!" I commanded, flinging open the door and making sure that everyone got out before I did. The Flyboy army was almost here, and now I could hear a chanting drone. "You cannot win! You are weak! We are strong! You cannot win! You are weak! We are strong!" The normal people who had just come to watch the show were watching us with wide, frightened eyes. I noticed with exasperation they made no move to help.

As Fang flung himself out of the door, I rushed after him and slammed the door behind me. "Sprint!" I yelled. "They're right behind us!" As we rounded the corner of a hallway, I could hear the door burst open behind me and the chant get louder. The secretary stared at us. "What on earth are you doing?"

"Run for your life!" Gazzy shouted to her. We now faced a mob of people – real people, thank god. "You all need to get out of here!" Gazzy shouted again, to them this time. They looked at him like he was crazy.

"You heard him! Move!" I yelled, pushing through them to try and get to the door. The Flyboys began to pour into the room, and people screamed as some were trampled and began pushing to get to the door.

"Oh, NOW they listen! When they're nearly killed!" I said to Fang, catching up to him.

"That's people for you," he said, his eyes ahead and his arms pumping furiously.

We skidded around another corner. The front doors were in sight. "Heads up, guys!" Iggy shouted. The next thing I heard was a BOOM! And then there was a gaping hole where the doors had been.

"Iggy, if that'd been found in security; do you know how much trouble we'd be in right now?" I said, forgetting to check around for Flyboys in my astonishment.

"What security?" He snickered. "It was lax." We jumped out through the humongous hole where the doors had been.

"U and A!" I shouted. "Everyone, now!" Thank God we always carry our stuff everywhere. The hotel would just have to figure things out. I snapped out my wings, and watched as the rest of my flock did the same. Secrecy was not an option right now. I made sure everyone was in the air, and began to take off myself, but a hand clamped down on my ankle. I looked down.

"Oh, no you don't, you little savage," said a voice in a British accent. My eyes narrowed. Why was the Headhunter always between me and freedom?

"Let go of me," I snarled. I didn't show my surprise when he took out a needle. I started kicking furiously. "Let go!" Why hadn't his grip failed yet?

"Stop struggling," he grunted, trying to force the needle into my leg just above my ankle.

I looked at him in disgust. "Are you on crack? Heck no!" I kicked harder, now trying to hit his face rather than free my leg.

"Max!" Fang's voice called. I glanced back quickly. He had turned around and was coming back toward me. I looked past the Headhunter to the Flyboy army that was just feet away, then to the needle that I hadn't realized was coming closer, and back to Fang.

"No! Go back!" I cried, and punched the Headhunter smack in the face just before the needle punctured my skin. Blood gushed from his nose. "Tell the Flock to go!" His grip finally loosened enough that I could free my foot.

"We're not leaving till you get here!"

"I'm coming! Just go already!" I shouted, pushing my wings down with as much power as I could muster. I took off into the air and sped away from the Flyboys, who were now taking off as well. I sped past Fang. "Why don't you ever do anything I tell you?" I muttered, not meaning for him to hear. I didn't catch what he said in return.

I caught up to the Flock. "Go! Pour on the speed! We're headed through the city!"

"Are you nuts?" Iggy shouted as we sped across the lake towards the skyscrapers. "Do you realize how many people will see us?"

"Do you realize that we're headed back to the School if we don't?" I shot back. "Remember when we were leaving Anne's and were chased by Erasers through the trees? They couldn't fly well, so they crashed. Same idea! Go! Follow Gazzy!" He finally obeyed.

"Max, this time they're robots, though, not Erasers," Fang reminded me.

"So?"

"They can fly better. And besides, they're improved."

"It's the only plan we've got, and I don't see any other way."

Suddenly his eyes lit up. "The water!"

"What?"

"When we were away from you guys, we flew into the water and the Flyboys followed and shorted out. It could work!"

I pondered that for a split second, and then made my decision. "Okay. Water. Guys, change of plan! Fly into the water!"

They angled downward without question, and I felt a surge of pride. Show me some other kids who are this calm and level headed during a crisis, and I'll…I don't know, I'll do something unusual.

"This is gonna hurt!" Fang yelled at the last second.

"What?" I shouted back. "You're telling me this now?"

WHAP! We hit the water streamlined, but it still felt like a bag of bricks had just clobbered me over the head. I rose to the surface slightly groggily and immediately checked the skies. "Incoming!" I yelled as the rest of the flock came up, coughing. The first of the Flyboys hit the water and raised a huge splash.

Suddenly I realized something. "Get out of the water, quick! If there's one thing I learned from science class, it's that electricity and water don't mix." We managed to get out as we watched the Flyboys below short out and spark. "We aaareeee….strooongg…." One said jerkily, and then died. I heaved a huge sigh of relief. That was too close.

"This stinks!" I heard Total say as he was handed from Angel to Iggy. "Can't we have a normal day?" For once, I actually agreed with him.

"Okay, report! How is everyone?"

"Headache, but other than that I'm okay," Nudge said, rubbing her head wistfully.

"I've done this before, so I'm used to it now," Iggy shrugged.

"Same," said Gazzy, smiling gamely.

"I'm fine, but my head hurts too," Angel said. I almost laughed at how messy her hair had gotten from flying into the water, but I caught myself.

"Alright, guys," I said reluctantly. "We can't exactly go back to the hotel…so I guess we're back to finding a nice patch of ground to sleep on." I could see that they were disappointed, but what was I supposed to do? Let them go back to the hotel and get attacked again in a tight spot?

We flew for a long time, our wings moving up and down almost in unison. But, inevitably… "Max? When are we going to stop to eat?" Nudge asked after around two hours. Now that I thought about it, breakfast seemed like years ago.

"Um…" I glanced below to stall for time and saw the blessed golden arches of a McDonald's. "Fast food sound good?"

"_Anything _sounds good," said Iggy.

"McDonald's, here we come," I said, dipping into a dive above the trees. I was stressed, yeah, but feeling that air rush past my face…it's something, I tell you.

I landed on the branch of a tree and swayed dangerously for a moment, and then caught my balance. I climbed down easily and watched Fang climb down from the same tree. I wish we hadn't had to go…

"What do you guys all want?" I asked. "Nothing too much, though. I have a twenty on me that I found on the ground, but I don't want to use the credit card right now in case they use it to track us." I took their order requests and sighed. It had been SO nice to be full for once.

I wasn't used to people's eyes not going screwy when I ordered. Then I remembered that I'd only ordered enough for _normal _people. Oh, yeah. Even though this was a fast food restaurant, it seemed to take forever to get our food and get out. I glanced around nervously. Had there been any Flyboys that were smart enough to follow us and not fly into the water?

"Miss? Excuse me, miss?" My head snapped up. Were they talking to _me? _No one ever calls me miss. "Your food," said the cashier pointedly, holding a bulging paper bag and giving me an odd look.

"Thanks," I muttered, and snatched the bag out of her hand. I stalked out of the door and into the open, fresh air. "Let's go, guys," I said, "We'll eat in the air." The flock, who'd been sitting on the curb, got up and went back into the trees.

"Do you ever wonder why people have to crowd everywhere?" Nudge asked, as she stepped over the curb. "Why can't there just be open space with no one around? Why are there so many people in the first place?"

"You know, that's a good question, Nudge," I said, unfurling my wings with a sigh. _If Itex succeeds, there won't _be _a lot of people, _I thought sadly. _I'd rather take the crowded world if the other option is over half of the world – including us – dies. _

I took off into the sky, feeling once more the rush of wind against my face. This time though, it didn't take away the tension knot in the center of my stomach.

We flew until sunset (or until we fell from Nudge talking our ears off. You pick.). We found the most comfy spot – dry ground in the middle of a forest! (Yay! Sarcasm!) I landed and immediately did a 360 of the area. There was absolutely no one there. Thank God. "Alright, guys, look for some firewood!" I called out. "We don't want to freeze tonight."

"What state are we in now?" Nudge asked, her arms already filled with dry branches.

"I have no idea," I answered honestly. "We'll have to find out tomorrow; I wasn't paying attention to state borders while we were flying."

Soon, we had a warm fire going. Night had fallen, and the only light was from our fire. I could see that everyone was exhausted from our flight. Angel's eyes were drooping, and Gazzy kept yawning, no matter how much he tried to stifle them. "Sleep, guys," I said gently. "I'll take first watch."

"Are you sure?" Iggy asked. "I could do it."

"I'm sure. Go to sleep." I was glad he couldn't see that I was really, really tired, or he would have insisted on staying up. I leaned against the trunk of a tree and wrapped my arms around my knees. There was, once again, no way that I would fall asleep. There was just too much to think about. And I was just slightly afraid of falling asleep again…

I think I was really spaced, because I jumped when Fang tapped my shoulder two hours later. "Max? Are you okay? It's my watch."

"Yeah, I'm – I'm fine," I said, rubbing my arm across my arms. When I didn't get up, he sat down next to me.

"You can go to sleep, you know. I've got it."

"I know that," I said, whacking his arm lightly with the back of my hand.

"Are you afraid to sleep?"

"No," I answered too quickly. Fang held my gaze. I couldn't take it anymore and looked away. Dang it, dang it, dang it! Now he would know that there was something wrong. I'm so stupid sometimes.

"Max…not to sound cocky, but was your dream about me?"

My eyes widened. "How did you-" I clapped a hand over my mouth. If this kept up, I was going to be telling him I loved him soon! Wait! No, I don't! I don't love Fang. I _can't _love Fang. Can I?

"I knew it," he sighed, leaning back against the tree. "Now will you tell me about it?" I looked at him for a long second.

"Promise not to tell the flock."

"Max, I promise. Just tell me."

I told him; though reliving the look on his face at the end freaked me to no end. When I was done, I was on the verge of tears. He touched my face lightly.

"Max," he said softly. "I will never, ever leave you." I looked up at him hesitantly. His hand moved down to my chin, lifting it up. Then his lips pressed, ever so lightly, against mine.

**A/N: Mwa ha. Cliffie! And finally real Fax! Woot! **

**Reviews…I hunger for reviews…**


	7. Byebye, USA

**A/N: I have a goal for this story now! My goal is 200 reviews. Can we get there? This is only chapter seven and there's already 77 reviews cued up (wow…!) So what do you think? Can we reach 200???**

I honestly think that the second Fang kissed me, my heart stopped beating. This was the third time we'd kissed, the second time he'd kissed me first, and I still didn't know how I was supposed to feel. _Well, I better decide soon, _I thought to myself, _because if I don't, Fang and I will never be the same. _

It was hard to believe that only one second had passed by. Could I love Fang without messing up everything? Did I love Fang? Well, I guess that one was a yes…as for the first one…I was going to take a chance.

Unsure of what to do, I hesitantly kissed him back. Fang's hand left my chin and went to my back, pressing me closer to him. I was enveloped in his touch, his feel, his scent…I stopped thinking for awhile, which was probably better. My brain would have exploded from too much at once.

After what seemed like ages, we broke apart, gasping. Fang's eyes searched my face for a reaction. I gave him a half smile and looked away, embarrassed. "Max," he whispered, touching my shoulder lightly. I turned my head reluctantly. Thank God it was dark, because I could feel that my face was as red as a lobster's. "Max," Fang said again, "if – you don't feel the same way…it is okay, you know. You don't have to do this just for me."

I finally looked up all the way. "Is that what you think? Are you crazy? I'd never do that! I kiss people if I want to, thanks. And besides, what makes you think I'd use you like a…like a toy? I swear I didn't do that to give you the wrong idea." Boy toy…oh, I finally get why they say that now!

The corner of Fang's mouth quirked upward. "Well, that's good." He wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me against his side. I rested my head lightly on his shoulder and gazed up at the stars. Fang looked up as well to see what I was staring at. "Intrigued?" he asked me.

"Yeah…" I breathed. "I wish…I wish that we hadn't had to go…"

"You know, you're not supposed to tell other people your wishes. Then they won't come true." Wow. That was a long Fang sentence.

"Would it have come true anyway?" I mused, sighing. "With us, it seems like we can't stay in a good place for more than two days right now."

"Well, you never know," Fang told me. "Something could change."

"Like what?"

"Well, like us." He gestured to the small space between us. "We've changed. We've changed a lot." I glanced down from the stars to him. He graced me with a rare, full smile and kissed me again. This time, I wasn't so hesitant and kissed him with more passion, wrapping my arms around his neck. His hands tangled in my hair and my lips parted involuntarily.

Oh, _man_…if being able to love Fang meant _this _– I didn't care if the whole world died because of it, I'd take it.

"I knew it," came a smug voice from in front of us. I jumped and pushed Fang away. Iggy was standing in front of us wearing a smirk. "I _knew _you guys were into each other. In case you two have, uh, _lost track of time…_it's my watch. I'd appreciate it if you went to sleep. I really don't want to listen to that for the next few hours."

"What are you talking about? It's still my watch," Fang retorted. "It has been for only half an hour. You go back to sleep. You just wanted to gloat about catching us."

"Fine, I like sleep," Iggy said, crossing his arms. "But don't wake me up by getting too loud." My face burned a bright red and my temper rose. I narrowed my eyes dangerously.

"Iggy," I said in my most threatening tone, "if you're not asleep in the next five seconds, god help me, I will bring Ari back from the dead and sic him on you. Five…four…"

"You can't bring Ari back. What kind of a threat is that?"

"Three…two…"

"Good night, Max!" He ran across to the other edge of the fire and threw himself down, closing his eyes shut tight.

I turned to Fang. "I think I'm headed to bed, too." I started to stand, but Fang caught my hand.

"Stay here."

"What, and fall asleep on you?" I joked. "I think that the ground is softer than your shoulder."

"Care to test that?"

"No, not really," I lied. "I'm gonna go now." His hand was still locked around my wrist. "Let go, Fang." He just looked at me. I finally gave up. "Fine," I grumbled, "if you want me with you that much…" I sat back down, refusing to let on that I was content. I could see his chest vibrate with silent laughter. I whacked him hard before I went to sleep.

"Max…_Max…_" Someone was whispering in my ear.

"Shut up, I'm trying to sleep," I grumbled.

"Max, Erasers are attacking!"

"_What?" _My eyes shot open and I sat up quickly. My forehead collided with something very solid. "Aw, that hurt," I complained, holding a cool hand to my forehead and closing my eyes again.

"Ow!" Someone cried. "Max, it was just a joke to get you up!" I opened my eyes. Iggy straightened, rubbing his own forehead wistfully

"You should know better than to tell me that to get me up, retard!" I scolded. **(No offense to the mentally challenged.) **I sat up and brushed pine needles off of my clothes. It looked like Fang, Iggy and I were the only ones awake. The youngest three were still passed out on the ground.

"What's for breakfast?" Fang asked Iggy, stretching out his wings and rolling his shoulders.

"Whatever we have in these backpacks," Iggy replied, opening his. "Let's see, we have…leftover stuff from that buffet yesterday…granola bars, apples and that's it for this one. Max, toss me yours." I picked it up from its spot at my feet and tossed it over the burned out fire. He caught it deftly. Even though I should be used to it by now, it still amazes me how he does that even though he's blind.

"Food's in the back," I told him. He felt for the back zipper and pulled it open. "Granola bars. That's it. Why am I carrying all the stuff?"

"Because you're suited for it," I told him, flashing him a smirk that he couldn't see. I caught Fang looking at me and gave him a shy smile. _Morning, _he mouthed. "Morning, Fang," I replied out loud.

"Sleep well?" he asked me, raising one eyebrow. I grinned reluctantly.

"With you for a headrest? I slept as well as I could, thanks," I retorted, not managing to hold back another smile.

"You slept with Fang?" Iggy asked incredulously, pausing in unloading fruit from his bag.

"Do you have any idea how wrong that sounded?" Fang asked him. Iggy turned red.

"Aw, Iggy's blushing," I teased, turning the tables back on him and making him forget what he'd just asked.

"Shut up, Max." Iggy grumbled.

"Excuse me, who's the leader here?" I asked him. "Last time I checked, it wasn't you."

I sensed movement to my left and glanced over. Nudge was waking up. "Mornin' Max…what's for breakfast?"

"Ask Iggy, he's cooking as always," I told her, smiling as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes.

"Granola bars, apples, and about a half piece of cold bacon each," Iggy called. I saw Nudge's eyes light up at the mention of bacon. I rolled my eyes and smiled.

Gazzy and Angel woke at around the same time, just when breakfast was ready. I tossed them both an apple and a granola bar each. "Good morning, sleepy heads," I said cheerfully. "Have an apple." They caught them just before they fell to the ground, their reflexes still dulled with sleep.

I was content. Well, as content as I could be in the middle of a forest right after my supposed teacher took a swing at me and we found out that the Flyboys were updated….Yeah. Why was I so happy?

Oh, right. Fang kissed me and I didn't run away.

I took an apple myself and took a huge bite, swallowing the sweet juice that squirted out. Yep, considering the circumstances, I was definitely happy. I wonder if it showed.

Gazzy was already halfway through his apple. Juice dribbled down his chin, and he wiped it away with the back of his hand. He smiled at me, a carefree, open smile. He would never be troubled by anything, I decided then. None of us would be, if I could help it.

Then it hit. It was a brain attack again.

Oh, the second this ended, Jeb was SO freaking dead.

I collapsed to my knees, holding my head. It felt like lightning was repeatedly striking my head, electrocuting and pounding. There were no images, no noise…just blinding pain. I couldn't hear anything. _Where was my flock?_ Was my last coherent thought, and then I passed out.

I woke up in the air. My confused and muddled mind didn't register for awhile that I was in someone's arms, and flying. I didn't want to open my eyes and let on that I was conscious. I was warm, and safe, and _tired. _Why was I so tired? I had just woken up from being asleep before the brain attack. _Alright, _I told myself, _enough of this. Time to wake up. _I opened my eyes and immediately shut them again. Ah! The light!

I could feel the chest vibrate of whoever was holding me. "Awake, I see." It was Fang. Of course.

I forced myself to open my eyes. I squinted – the sun was still too bright, especially up here. "Where are we? What happened?"

Fang's expression didn't change, but his eyes narrowed slightly. "You had another brain attack and blacked out," he told me. "Then I figured we should leave, because we don't want to stay in the same place for too long."

"How long ago was that?" I asked, slowly regaining all of my senses and looking around for the rest of the flock. Nudge was to our left, Gazzy and Angel to our right, and Iggy straight ahead, carrying Total once more. Okay, good.

Fang still hadn't answered me. "Fang? How long ago was it?"

"That was yesterday. It's noon right now."

"WHAT?" I shouted. "I've been out for a whole DAY? What did you guys do all of yesterday?"

"We didn't leave right away," he admitted finally. "We left this morning."

Nudge had heard my shout. "Max! You're awake!" She cried joyfully, soaring past Fang and me.

"Yeah, I'm awake," I said, smiling weakly and wincing at the loud sound of her voice. "Finally." I turned to Fang. "Can you let me down now? I can fly."

"No," Fang said, obviously enjoying his power over me. "You've been out for over a day. You can't just wake up and start flying across the country."

"Watch me," I retorted, trying and failing to pry myself out of his arms.

"Oh, come on, Max. After all, I thought you _loooved _me!" He grinned. I glared at him and quit struggling to argue.

"For the LAST time, slick, I was under the influence of a freaking drug! I had no control over what I said! None whatsoever! Got that?"

"Yeah, sure, Max. But," he lowered his voice, "you did kiss me last night, you know."

"Cheater," I grumbled. He just laughed at me. I flipped him off and continued to try to get out of his hold.

**_Max, just hold still. Fang's right: you need to rest. _**Oh, goody, it was Jeb again. He needed to hear a piece of my mind!

_Jeb! How dare you order me around when you just gave me a BRAIN ATTACK, you freak? _Ugh! He made me want to go strangle something.

_**Max, listen to me, please. I really am sorry. **_I mentally scoffed. Yeah, right. Sure he was.

_**Max, really I am. It only hurt because I hadn't said anything in so long. It was my mistake. **_

_No duh, _I replied sarcastically. I narrowed mental eyes, if that made sense.

_**Maximum, please listen! You need to leave the States. **_

_What? Again? We just got back! _

_**Your choice, but if you stay here, Itex WILL find you. **_

_What? But my chip is out!_

_**They found you at the aquarium, didn't they? **_Damn. Well, he had a point there.

_Leave for where? _I asked resignedly.

_**Canada. **_

_Canada? Why Canada? _

No answer.

_Jeb? An answer would be nice. _

Still nothing.

"Max? Max? Hello?" Fang's face was directly above mine. I blinked and shook my head rapidly.

"What direction are we heading in?" I asked Fang. You know that internal GPS thingamabob we all have? Yeah, well, mine wasn't working too well right about now.

"Huh? Why?"

"Just what direction are we going in?"

"Was Jeb talking to you again?"

"Yes, now what direction?" I was getting impatient.

"North east," he replied, frowning. "What did Jeb say?"

"Well, angle more north," I said, ignoring his last question. "We're going to Canada."

**A/N: Ta da! Yay! Chapter seven! Whoo hoo! **

**Can we get to 90 before chapter eight? (Wow…I can't believe I'm requesting that! 90 sounds so big!)**

**For you Harry Potter fans out there: check out **


	8. And Hello, Canada

**A/N: Here is chapter 8 (finally! I was gone for three weeks and was computer deprived. I am so sorry)! Thank you to all reviewers! I love you all! I mean, one hundred and two already! Oh, and for those who asked about the Harry Potter blurb at the end: I put a website, but URLs can't show up, apparently, so for the link check my profile (but AFTER you read and review, right?). **

"Canada?" Fang asked skeptically. "Why Canada?" Hey, that's the exact same thing I said. "And what did Jeb say?"

"Canada, because I said so," I retorted, knowing that would piss him off. His expression became annoyed. "And Jeb said to go to Canada because otherwise Itex would find us again like they just did yesterday – I mean, two days ago."

"How do we know that we can trust him?" Fang asked. "He claims to be good still, but how do we know that it isn't just a fluke to reel us in? How do we know he isn't bait?"

"Look, I don't like it either," I sighed. "I definitely don't trust Jeb all the way yet. I doubt that I ever will again. But he has a point. They won't expect us to leave the country so soon after half of us just returned from Germany. They'll think that we'll want to stay here."

"But _why _Canada? Why not London or something?"

"Who knows? Maybe there's something in Canada that we're supposed to know about. Tell the others to angle farther north. I can't yell without hurting my own ears right now."

"Hey guys!" Fang called. His voice wasn't extremely loud, but I still winced as my head throbbed. "Angle north and kiss the US of A good bye."

"What?" Iggy cried in disbelief. "Why the sudden change of plans? And why are we leaving the US?"

"Itex will find us if we don't leave the country," Fang explained.

"Jeb said so," Angel chimed in. I shot her the best look I could from Fang's arms, but it's _really_ hard to look threatening when you're being carried bridal style. _How_ many times did I have to tell that girl not to read my mind? Was she ever going to listen? Actually, no, don't answer that.

Gazzy entered the discussion, followed closely by Nudge. "How can we trust Jeb?"

"I don't want to leave so soon!" Nudge whined.

"Look, it's not a group vote," Fang said. "We're leaving and that's it." Hmm. I was impressed. He handled that…pretty well, actually. Hey, wait a minute! Fang was distracted! I can get out of here! I ripped away Fang's grip and beat my wings by myself. Ha! I was free!

…and I was falling. Damn it. I HATE not being able to fly.

Fang caught me, of course, with a smug look on his egotistic face. I didn't give him the satisfaction of words, or even a look, inwardly seething at the fact that I couldn't fly. "I told you that you would fall," he said, grinning. "Why don't you ever do anything I tell you?" Hey! He used my words against me! I still didn't say anything to him, protecting my dignity.

Instead, I turned to the rest of the flock. "We're going to Canada. It's not a democracy. It's a Max-ocracy. I've said it before, I'll say it again. Got that?"

There was sullen agreement. This wasn't going over well, but then, not everything would. Speaking of things not going down well…"Fang," I said in an urgent low tone. "You haven't told them about…well, the two of us, right?"

"No," he said in the same tone. "I figured it was a bad time. Did you want me to?"

"No. No way. Not now. They don't need to know. Iggy is bad enough."

"They'll find out sooner or later, you know." Fang, the eternal voice of reason. I snorted mentally at the thought.

"Well, let's make it later, if you don't mind." The last part was an expression, of course. They weren't finding out even if he minded.

"Our secret," he agreed. "I'll swear Iggy to secrecy until we decide to say something."

"Good," I said, fighting back fatigue that threatened to swallow me back up. Man, that brain attack had really worn me out – more than usual. Most times I could fly soon after. Not this time. Uh-_uh. _

I felt Fang turn with a twitch of a feather. We were heading north – _Canada, here we come,_ I thought, somewhat regretful.

-------------------------

Did Fang let me fly eventually? Of course not. I think that he likes holding me _way _too much. It got a little scary. At least I got to pick where we landed. I mean, I was okay after only around ten or fifteen minutes. I mean, hello, we have super fast healing powers! But _no, _Fang just has to carry me around like I'm some helpless _human _girl. Blechh.

We landed in northern Wisconsin, deciding to cross over into Canada tomorrow. I stayed far away from Fang, in case he decided to gloat again about my previous lack of energy. Even a smug look is his idea of gloating.

"Alright, guys, you know the drill!" I yelled. (Oh yeah, my headache is gone, too.) "Get wood for the fire; Iggy, get dinner started; let's move it!"

"Yeah, you're definitely much better," Iggy teased. I resisted the strong urge to trip him as he passed me and instead whacked him upside the head.

"Oops! My bad," I joked, wishing he could see my smirk.

"Hey, Max? I have a question," said Nudge tentatively.

"Mm. What is it?" I asked, sighing. I really wasn't in the mood for a Nudge rant right now. "Make it short though, okay?"

"Well…I was just wondering…why are we doing what Jeb says? I mean, I know he's your real dad and all, but he's done so much confusing stuff, and….I just don't know anymore." In a flash, the atmosphere at our campsite went from carefree to so thick you could practically see it. Everyone froze, staring at either Nudge or me.

I took a deep breath and tried to smile. "You know what, Nudge? The _only _reason is that they found us at the aquarium. I don't know how they did, but they won't be expecting us to leave the country. That's why. Okay?"

Her expression cleared slightly, but she still looked slightly troubled. "Okay," she replied, but I could see she was still doubtful. I was proud of her for thinking for herself, duh, but still…she shouldn't have to doubt me.

What does that mean if she does?

Everyone was still staring at me. I looked back expectantly. "Well? We've still got work to do!" They busied themselves, muttering excuses. Fang held my gaze for a millisecond longer, and then turned his back to take some firewood from Gazzy.

What was I doing, you ask? Planning. Planning meaning trying to talk to Jeb to find out why on _earth _we were leaving the country.

_So, any bright ideas as to what exactly we're supposed to be doing in Canada? _I asked hoping for a direct answer.

_**Listen to your flock. **_

_Well, thanks, because I never do that! _I mentally spat. _When? _

You decide whether I got an answer or not.

An arm went around my shoulders. I looked around, startled. Fang was to my right. "Relax," he said simply. "Don't worry. We'll help. I'll help." Surprisingly, I calmed down. I hadn't realized I was so tense. I smiled, and he moved away, after a quirk of his own.

Iggy produced a lighter from his baggy jeans pocket and lit the pile of sticks and brush. The flames leapt up towards the trees, and then settled down back to earth. He produced packs of hot dogs from his bag and speared them on sticks, two each. That had been all we could afford. He handed a stick each to us.

We held them over the fire in unison to cook. The smell after five minutes just about drove me _crazy_ with hunger. "Can we eat them "Can we eat them _yet?_" Nudge asked, her eyes begging.

"I'm not sure if they're done" I said, pulling my stick off the fire and examining my food. Gazzy's stick caught fire as he leaned over to look at Nudge's.

"Dang it!" he cried, jerking it away and blowing hard on the burning piece of wood. At last it went out, but his hot dogs were burnt as well. Forgetting about the burnt stick, he grinned. "Excellent! Mine are done."

"If Gazzy's eating, I _definitely _am," Nudge proclaimed, taking hers off the fire as well and sliding a hot dog off the branch. "I'm _starving._"

"We know. You've said so a hundred times," said Fang, rolling his eyes at me. I snorted.

"Go on. Everyone eat; I can see you drooling," I said. Fang and Iggy shoved the hot dogs practically whole into their mouths. Gross. They're such guys. Well, Angel ate half of hers in one bite, so I guess I can't talk bout the teenage mutant guys in my flock, can I?

I sat on a log, finished my hot dogs in record time and watched my flock. My stomach rumbled, demanding more food. I ignored it and focused on figuring out what to do in Canada. Fly to the closest whatchamacallit…province? Find a library, research Itex…and then what? Reenact what had just happened not even two weeks ago? Take Itex by storm? Yeah, six vs. a thousand. That'll turn out great.

I pressed the heels of my palms hard against my eyes, clearing the mental picture of a forbidding Itex building, surrounded by Flyboys or worse. We'd figure something out. We always did.

A small hand took my left palm way from my eye and grasped it. I moved my other hand for a better view. Angel. "We can do it, Max. Really. Don't worry," she said, smiling.

"I'm not," I lied. "Just thinking." I blocked off my thoughts so she wouldn't know just _how _stressed I was. She was only six. She didn't need my burdens too.

_**You're only fourteen, **_Jeb chipped in, _**and you're doing beautifully. **_Angel gave my hand one last squeeze and left to finish her dinner.

I looked up at the sky. The sun and nearly gone down, and the sky was a watercolor of reds and purples. I watched it until it grew dark. Then I finally stood, my legs stiff.

"Alright, guys, find a spot to sleep," I said wearily.

Fang appeared almost magically, silent by my side. "Do you want me to take first watch?" he asked quietly. His breath tickled my ear.

"You don't mind?" I asked gratefully. "I really just want to sleep."

"I can take your watch too," he offered.

"There's no reason to go all 'protect Max' on me. I'll take second watch. And be sure to wake me up!" I said forcefully. "Don't even _try _saying you forgot."

He held his hands up in defeat, smiling slightly. "Alright, Your Highness. You win."

"Thank you," I said, pretending to be haughty. I couldn't do it for long without cracking up. Fang laughed too.

"Lovebirds," Total whispered, brushing my leg as he went to Angel. I glared at him, but it was suddenly awkward between Fang and I. I smiled, deciding to shrug it off. "Good night Fang," I said, and curled up on the other side of the fire by Nudge to sleep. I may have kissed Fang last night, but that doesn't mean I'll go around macking him every chance I get. No matter _how _hot he is.

I fell asleep planning what to do. It felt like I had just closed my eyes before a hand was shaking me gently into wakefulness. I came awake at once and scanned our campsite. No morphing robots, no intruding humans…okay. I turned my attention to the owner of the hand. Fang, of course. "Your watch," he said. "See? I did wake you up."

I struggled into a sitting position. "Good. Just because I kissed you doesn't mean I'm suddenly Barbie."

One dark eyebrow raised. "Really? I thought you were prep-school Barbie! So much for that."

I tackled him and pretended to punch him with each word. "I-am-NOT-a-Barbie!" I started to get up. Fang held a finger to his lips.

"Don't wake up Iggy."

"That goes without saying," I said in a 'duh' tone. He captured my lips in a quick good night kiss and stretched out next to Gazzy, his face carefully turned away from him. I grinned and touched my mouth, the ghost of his lips still lingering on mine.

-------------------

The next morning, we packed up and took to the air again after a scrambled breakfast. "Are we getting to Toronto today?" asked GAzzy.

"Yep. Should be only about an hour's flight," I replied, giving him a smile.

"What are we doing?" asked Iggy.

I changed my smile to one that I hoped was reassuring for the benefit of the rest of the flock. "There's a plan."

"There's always a plan," Iggy finished with me. "Of course."

"Why even doubt it?" I asked him, grinning.

An hour passed fairly quickly. A faint roar reached my ears. .I glanced at Iggy. His face was alert, confirming my suspicions. "Max?" he began.

"Jet," I interrupted, "I know. Pull up, guys! Jet at ten o'clock!" I zoomed straight upward, followed closely by Gazzy and Iggy.

My head skimmed the bottom of a cloud before I stopped, misting my hair. I peered downward, searching. In no time, the jet screamed beneath us, oblivious to the fact that six mutants were hovering not thirty feet above. I could just make out the logo on the side: TORONTO AIRLINES.

The tail end of the jet passed and was gone, just like that. "Did you see the words in the corner of the logo?" Fang asked me under his breath, his eyes fixed intently on mine.

"What, Toronto Airlines? We're almost there, huh?"

"No, in the _corner _of the logo," he said impatiently. "It said, 'an Itex company'."

I whistled. "They're _everywhere._"

"You're telling me," he said. "So what now?"

"Go down," I said, and repeated it for the rest of the flock. "I think we're here!"

Angel cheered. "More foreign stuff!" Normally just as excited, Nudge just grinned. I flipped head over heels and zoomed downward after Fang – straight into the arms of the waiting Flyboy.

'Crap' would be a major understatement here.

**A/N: Sorry, cliffie. But you know something really weird? When I went on vacation, we were in rooms 3219, 3220, and 3221. The flock stays in 319, 320, and 321! I was like, "That is awesome!" And I was even in Chicago. Oh yeah! **


	9. Checking Out and Finding Out

**A/N: Argh…summer is over for me…but good news! I finally started a Max Ride site that people can actually join! So for the link check my profile. Especially if you want to join! (hint hint) On with the story!**

Metal arms clamped down around my torso. Another Flyboy had Fang's arms pinned behind his back. There were four other Flyboys – one for each of us. I frowned. Why the small numbers? Normally if they wanted to take us, they sent around six hundred, not just six. Not that I was complaining, of course.

I kicked the robot where his kneecap should be and popped a few screws loose. The knee went flying. I glanced up. Gazzy had spotted Fang and me in the arms of the Flyboys and was hovering uncertainly. "FIGHT!" I yelled. "It's only four on four, you can do it!"

Nudge zipped forward. "Let's kick Flyboy butt!"

"There you go, Nudge!" I cried proudly. Fang was fighting to get out of his Flyboys grip. Its arms were slowly constricting around his chest, squeezing his ribs and lungs. He coughed, elbowing repeatedly the chest of his attacker with fury written on his face.

Angel darted in and out too fast for her Flyboy to follow in his battered state. He was already missing an eye, and wires dangled out of the empty socket. Gazzy joined her, and together they delivered one heck of a kick to the base of the Flyboy's spine, just like we'd done that day in Germany. It died and fell to the trees below.

I fought hard to turn around in my Flyboy's arms. I popped his elbow with a blind cross punch and his left arm dangled uselessly. "The joints are weak!" I shouted. "These are old models!"

Iggy snapped the chin up of a menacing robot with a swift left uppercut. "Got it!" he called back, breaking the metal fixings in the Flyboy's writs by bending it backward. I winced. I could hear that crack all the way over here.

"Come with us," droned the Flyboy. Geez. Same old, same old. Can't they at least program them to say something _different _for a change?

"No," I said, bored, breaking its neck with a sharp knifehand swing. Ha, I thought as it fell. Take that, Itex.

Nudge was also watching her Flyboy fall with a slightly chilling look of cold satisfaction. Fang had broken free of his opponent's grip and had broken its arm, leg, and whatever ribs it had. He was almost, well, scary when he was fighting.

"Everybody MOVE!" cried Iggy, holding a smoking object. I folded my wings in and dropped. _Fast._

Iggy followed me closely, grinning. "Five, four, three, two"- KABOOM!

"Man, that was awesome!" Gazzy cried, slapping Ig five.

"That must have looked like fireworks to the people in Toronto," Angel observed, shielding her head as damaged Flyboy bits bounced off of us.

Gazzy scoffed. "Couldn't they _tell _it was a bomb? Idiots." His face brightened as he thought of yet another idea and launched into another Weird Al song. _"Don't wanna be a Canadian idiot!"  
_

"Gazzy, stop while you're ahead," I warned, rolling my eyes. "Let's head down really carefully, guys. I can't believe that there were only six of them."

I went first, descending through a cloud like an overly huge hawk. I spotted a group of buildings and a ton of planes. No wonder we were almost run over – we were right over an airport! How ironic. Luckily there were no knots of gawking people, but we had to get away from all of this radar.

"East," I said simply, banking slightly. "Get out of radar range and find a deserted place where we can't be seen from the towers."

"Where are we sleeping tonight?" asked Nudge curiously.

"Anywhere we can't be found," I said, stating the obvious.

"Will you let me use mind control to make them forget about us if we can stay in another hotel?" pleaded Angel.

I hesitated. It was really, _really _tempting to stay somewhere where they had a built in security system, beds, and gave you anything you wanted…for a price, of course. I glanced at Fang and raised one eyebrow. He shook his head almost imperceptibly. I had the same feeling.

"No, Ange," I sighed, "I don't think we should."

"I'm way too jumpy to stay in a hotel right now anyway," said Iggy, sensible for a wild moment.

"Exactly," I agreed. "Let's land, walk through the airport like normal kids, get something to refuel, and find a nice, abandoned place to stay." Angel looked disappointed, but she'd be even _more _disappointed if they took her back to the School. That I was mongo sure of.

We landed behind two cargo jets so that it was impossible to be seen. "Blend in," I told my flock, tucking my wings in and putting a jacket on to hide them completely. "We need to find somewhere to get inside with out some worker finding us."

I looked at Angel. "_Now _is the right time to use mind control."

She grinned and clapped her hands once, which only concerned me a bit. Okay, a lot. But how the heck are you supposed to raise a freaking _mind controller?_ Any answers? I didn't think so. "What can I do?" she asked.

"Make sure all the workers don't think it's suspicious that we're roaming around down here. Other than that, be creative. But not _too _creative, Ange. Be smart. Okay?" No answer. _"Okay?" _

"Okay, Max," she finally agreed. "I'll be good." Fang looked at me as if to say, _Oh, god. What have you _done?

Angel led us through the planes. We passed a ton of workers who were loading luggage into cargo holds, directing traffic, or driving around in golf carts looking important. They all glanced suspiciously at us until Angel turned her sweet, six year old smile on them and did some mind work, then they turned away with a slightly confused look on their face. I suddenly realized that to an outsider, she would be extremely freaky.

We made into the building without inspection with the help of Angel. I immediately noticed that we _already _stuck out. We had no parents, no luggage, no cell phones, and we weren't carrying a thick, orange book. I couldn't make out the title from here, but it seemed like everyone had their overly large, greasy nose stuck in it. Humans and their fads.

I gathered my flock and looked around for an exit or place to eat, glancing around casually but really checking out everyone in the immediate vicinity. People pushed past us in a hurry to get to their flight. A business type looking man glared at us, but didn't quit typing on his organizer. Geez, sorry for breathing your air or whatever. An airport is a huge place, but I was still feeling claustrophobic. A quick glance at Fang revealed that he was feeling the same way. Can you say, _major invasion of personal space, _people?

All of the signs were in both French and English, and announcements in both languages about flights were being made over PA systems in different areas. I found a sign that pointed to an exit and gestured to it. "Do you want to get out of here or get food first?"

"Food, duh!" said Nudge. "I'm _so _hungry right now; you would not be-_lieve _how much my stomach is aching with hunger. Oh my god! Do I smell pizza?"

"Yes, Nudge, you do smell pizza," I answered, rolling mental eyes. "Anyone else have a vote?"

"We all vote food," Fang said for the rest of the flock. I blinked in slight surprise and looked around. No one disagreed. I knew Fang wanted to get out of here as much as I did, so everyone must be really hungry. I didn't ask how he knew. My stomach decided to get its two cents in by growling. Okay, then, food.

"Let's find somewhere to eat," I conceded, already glancing around once more. There was a kind-of restaurant about thirty yards in front and to the left of us. "Over there," I said, gesturing with my chin. Iggy hooked his index finger through Gazzy's left belt loop, his face closed off and tense because of the noise and people.

I wound my way around suitcases and feet. The whole place was a zoo, and it didn't help that it was summer. **(A/N: I think it's summer right now in the story according to the timeline in the books. If it's not, correct me, please.) **Everyone was going on vacation, and there were families galore with crying children. It took awhile to go even that small distance to get something to eat.

As we walked, we passed a bookstore. An orange poster screamed, "Harry is here!" in the window. I looked. Tons of the orange books were on display. I finally saw the title: _Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. _So, we meet again, boy wizard. Hmph. I notice we didn't get a poster for _our _books. Fine. But we would have won that flying contest if wonder wizard had actually showed up. **(A/N: Okay, last one. Swear. But FYI, I actually love Harry Potter. But this is Max's POV, and she's competitive. And if you're wondering, "What race?" go to the earliest archives of the MR blog.) **

After we'd fought our way through the people, we finally made it to the restaurant, where there was, of course, a long line. Did I mention that I hate airports? A heavy set middle aged woman was in the line in front of us. Her nose, thankfully, was out of any book, orange or not. I looked at the menu. We had walked into a grill, so the items were…burgers, specialty burgers and French fries. That was it. And the prices – as high as the planes.

"Max? What can we get?" Angel asked, also staring at the menu boards. We shuffled forward all of three steps as someone else was helped.

"Order as much as a normal person," I replied. "We can get some more food later." Angel relayed the info mentally to anyone who might not have heard. _Can I get chicken strips, French fries, and a Coke? _She asked me with a thought.

_Sure, baby, _I replied. _But only one order for now. Alright? _

_Okay. _Nudge was tapping her foot impatiently, wrapping her arms around her stomach as if to ward off the hunger pains. As I glanced around at Iggy, I noticed a blonde teenager who looked around sixteen sizing me up and immediately tensed. I poked Fang in the ribs. "Is it just me? Or is that guy watching us?"

Fang glanced over as well. Although his expression didn't change, I could feel protectiveness and anger begin to pulse through him. You know, because I'm such a perceptive, sensitive person. "He's not watching us," Fang muttered. "He's watching _you_."

"What? Why?" I mentally scolded myself for showing a reaction. Pretend that I don't know he's watching, I told myself, and I won't go back to the School. Or whatever hell they've planned now.

"Chill, Max," he said. That's kind of hard to do when you feel watched. Especially when 'being watched' normally means we're about to get into something bad. "He doesn't want to hurt you. Angel would have picked up on his thoughts. And I can tell from that expression on his face."

"Expression meaning…?" I asked, moving forward once more. We were almost to the front of the line now.

"Meaning he's checking you out," Fang said through clenched teeth. "And he's coming over here."

My nervousness vanished, and was replaced by amusement at Fang's reaction. "He could just want to join the line."

"Excuse me, but did it hurt when you fell?" A male voice said casually. Or not.

I whirled. The guy from before was facing me, a cocky smile curving his lips. "What? I didn't fall." I answered him, glaring. A sudden, paranoid thought hit me – what if he had seen me land and thought that I had fallen? I dismissed the thought, crossed my arms and sent him the universal message for _GO AWAY! _But he didn't seem to get it.

He smiled. "I meant when you fell from heaven. Because only an angel could look that good." His eyes scanned me, approving. A feeling of disgust washed over me. Pervert!

Iggy turned at the new voice, eyes locking on to the source of the noise. His eyes narrowed. Angel, picking up on our thoughts, turned as well, her forehead creased in a confused frown.

Fang wrapped an arm around my shoulder. "Back off. She's with us."

The teenager's eyebrows rose. "Who're you? Her boyfriend?"

"I might be," replied Fang coolly. "I think you should go."

I straightened my back and lifted my chin. I could take care of myself, too. Why was he so protective? Not that I minded…much. "I'm not interested." Now _go away. _I want my food, and I want to stay with my flock and not be bothered for the rest of the day. Haven't I had _enough _confrontations?

He wouldn't give up. "So where are your wings…angel?" Okay. That was _it. _My right hand curled into a fist.

Iggy spoke up before I could. "He may not be her boyfriend, but I'm her brother. Quit harassing her before I…call security." Nice save, Ig.

The woman in front of us turned around at the commotion with a disapproving look. Her eyes landed on us and she gasped. "Oh, my goodness! Aren't you those winged kids! I saw you on the news! Annie! Annie, look! Aren't those the ones?" Her daughter or grand daughter or what ever she was, glanced up from her GameBoy.

"What?" She looked at us, and I saw a gleam of comprehension in her eyes. "Oh! Aunt Ria! They _are! They are!"_ This caused what seemed like half the airport to turn and look at us.My stomach muscles clenched, and my breathing quickened. I tugged Nudge's sleeve.

"Time to go. We're leaving." I glanced around at the overbearing aunt and her niece, and at the cameras being raised to faces. Gazzy looked at me, biting his lip. We couldn't go anywhere. _Anywhere. _

"But I'm" - she broke off, realizing what was going on. "Count of three?" she asked, her brown eyes worried and suddenly tired.

I nodded. "Right. Farthest place," which meant, _nearest exit. _"One." The flock burst through the back of the line to yells and stares. Ten security guards came racing after us. Great. That's exactly what we need – more complications.

As we ran out of the exit in a cacophony of noise, Fang shook his head. "You turn too many heads for your own good."

For once, I didn't know what to say.

-------

Fang's POV

They had camped out in a sort-of safe place – a crashed two-seater plane in the middle of the woods. It was tilted, which made it hard to balance, but there were no dead people, no bugs, and no _live _people, which suited Fang just fine.

He sat in one of the pilot's chairs and flipped open the flock's – well, mainly _his _– laptop, and made an effort to shut out the noises of his family around him. It didn't work. The laptop whirred as it booted up. Fang wished that it would hurry up. He had something important to look at.

It finally opened to the log in screen. He clicked on the 'Fang' icon and once again waited for it to load. For such an update piece of technology, right now it sure was slow.

Iggy plopped in the co-pilot's seat. "Man, I am _beat,_" he began. "We flew for an hour, which wasn't so bad, get chased through the airport because Max was being hit on, and _then _tramp through miles of woods to sleep in a cramped airplane for the night. Why were _we _chosen for this?"

Fang didn't glance up. "Because God knows everyone else would have gone insane a long time ago." That is, if God existed. And if he did, he had serious problems with letting this kind of stuff happen. Fang clicked on Internet Explorer. This page opened immediately to the Blogger log in screen. Rather than update his blog, he skipped past this page and went to Google.

Iggy turned his head toward him. "You're not updating your blog?"

Now Fang looked up. "How did _you _know?"

Iggy shrugged. "Normally you type in your email and password. This time, the rhythm was off." Fang blinked.

He typed in his search: _Itex. _"So what _are _you doing?" asked Iggy curiously.

"Looking for info on Itex," Fang replied.

Iggy snorted. "Yeah. They have a homepage, didn't you know that? It's www dot Itex dot org. Yeah, right."

Fang shrugged. "Maybe they figure that no one will try that. And besides, before my blog, no one knew that it existed but us." A bang sounded from behind them as something fell from a shelf.

"Nothing's broken!" shouted Gazzy. "Hey, look! Liquid oxygen!"

"Gazzy, don't you _dare _touch that!" Fang smiled at Max's reproval and the thud of footsteps as she ran toward where Gazzy was to prevent him from blowing them all up. What the heck was liquid oxygen doing on a plane?

The results page showed up on the screen. _Your search did not match any results. Please retype your query and try again. _He sighed. What had he been expecting? A neon sign saying, "Top secret information: this way"? Well, he could try one thing. It wouldn't work. He typed in Iggy's joking suggestion: Itex dot org.

_You have reached a locked site. Please enter the password. _

"Iggy. Geez, you were actually right."

"I was? I mean, of course I was. Right about what?" Iggy asked, confused.

"The Itex site. I just need a password."

"Too bad Nudge's power won't work for that. She'd need the actual computer, cuz I doubt she could hack into that even with her skills and this computer," Iggy observed, propping his feet up on the control board. "Guess we're sunk. That would be so _cool, _though!"

"We're not sunk yet," muttered Fang. He decided to guess at a password.

MAXIMUM RIDE. He hit enter.

_Access granted. Welcome to Itex. _Figures popped up on the screen: links, pictures, names of scientists. Fang's eyes widened. Jackpot.

"Max?" he called.

"What now?" she called back irritably.

"Come here. There's something you should definitely see."

**A/N: Ta da! Sorry this was so slow. School started, along with volleyball practice every day. Our first game is next Tuesday: crossed fingers! The purple button is itching to be clicked….**


	10. Itex's Site

**A/N: The only good thing about school is that I have 24/7 access to computers. That'll help me get done WAY faster with chapters. everyone applauds And I think Fang's eyes are really dark brown, but they could be black, so bear w/ me.**

Note to self – never underestimate evil geniuses with the power and money to make things happen. Even _after _you nearly annihilate half of their headquarter buildings. They'll always surprise you.

Fang looked at me, apprehension showing for once in his impossibly dark brown eyes for a split second. Then they flicked back to the screen.

We'd somehow hit gold with this web page. Sure, it was a locked site, according to Fang, but that _had _to be too easy, right? I couldn't possibly be staring at a search bar that could hold the answer to anything I asked about Itex. Right?

That was all the web page consisted of. One huge search bar and couple of names and pictures. There were the names of a few scientists who had designed the web page and their pictures and email addresses.

Iggy broke the shocked silence. "So what is it? God, I _hate _being blind."

"It's a database," said Fang quietly. "Itex has a locked database on the web that we've just hacked into."

"So _search _for something already!" he cried impatiently.

I took the laptop from Fang on impulse. My fingers hovered over the keys. Then I typed, _human avian hybrids _into the search bar and hit enter.

"Smart," mused Fang. "You'd have to already have dirt on Itex to find anything on this site at all, and most people don't even know that it exists. If you happened to come across it – unlikely, considering the password – you'd have to guess."

I shrugged indifferently, my eyes still fixed intently on the screen as it loaded. "I don't know…some people are really good guessers with the right info. Like you – what _was _the password?"

He glanced at me and back at the screen.

I got a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. "Was it something to do with me?"

"Just your name," he said, attempting to blow it off. I barely heard him, since the page had just loaded – and I was staring at my own picture. I was staring defiantly across the table at someone (yeah, that was me). Their back was to us, but I recognized the hair color instantly – it was Jeb. Then something clicked in my brain and I realized that the scene was from when I was trying to rescue Ange from the maniacs at the School. That was before I knew what Itex was; before I knew I had to save the world… so much was different then.

I scrolled farther down the page. _Human avian hybrid (000593) _said the caption under my picture. Underneath that, a headline read, HUMAN AVIAN HYBRIDS: A FORMER SUCCESS, followed by an article. I read it aloud, the dread growing in my stomach.

**The longest living hybrids to date, the human avian hybrids were formerly Itex's highest ranked experiment. This breed is a human injected with hawk DNA- **"_Breed?_" I interjected hotly. "What am I, a freaking _horse_?"

"Just keep reading," said Iggy, always the patient one. I rolled my eyes and continued.

**-which gave it wings, air sacs, different blood, and much more. Many of their brains were enhanced to give them special abilities such as mimicry, super speed, and mind reading. **I bet they got that from our last visit with dear Borchy. **Its life span is currently fourteen years. **It. I was a freaking it. Should I be used to that by now? Yes. Was I? Heck no.

**There are five other successful avian hybrids so far. (000594, 000595, 000596, 000597, 000598.) **"Oh, my god," I whispered, and stopped. "How did they _get _these?" Pictures of the younger five were now plastered across the screen. The first one was of Fang. His foot was aimed at the camera, and he was covered in bruises. Probably the reason his eyes were filled with freaking hate.

One was of Gazzy and Angel together. Angel looked about dead on her feet, and I felt a rush of protectiveness toward my baby in the picture. Gazzy was holding her hand and looking around nervously.

The next was of Nudge. Nothing was really out of the ordinary about her picture, but then I looked again. "Hey! How did they get a picture of her _in the air?" _I exclaimed.

A crease formed between Fang's brows. "Spies? Satellites?"

"Either," I replied, masking the nervousness in my voice with an air of not caring.

"Is there one of me?" Iggy demanded. I glanced at it, and immediately decided to lie about what was there, sending a warning glance to Fang. "Um – it's you setting off a bomb in midair. There's Flyboys everywhere."

"I remember that!" he said cheerfully. "Those bombs were awesome!" I was glad that I hadn't told him the _real_ picture – him on the operating table as the whitecoats permanently damaged his vision. Fang glanced at me, understanding. I turned back to the page to avoid any other questions from Iggy.

**To read the rest of this page, please log in with your work ID and password. **

"I thought you _did _log in?" I asked, frowning at Fang.

"I did," he said defensively. "It's extra security, I guess."

I scanned the immediate area at the mention of security. It was making me jumpy to be in this tiny cockpit with two other people, but I knew I would feel exposed if I was out in the open again. Sighing, I stayed put.

We tried to guess at the password for the next ten minutes, but we finally gave it up for later. I raised my eyebrows at Fang. "Should Nudge know? She can help."

He hesitated. "_She _can take it – but that motormouth of hers might spill more than we want."

I chewed the inside of my lip, debating with myself. "Tomorrow," I decided eventually. "I'll talk to her tomorrow."

Fang shut down the website and the laptop, and the room was suddenly silent without its hum. The silence was quickly broken by Nudge shouting, "_Gazzy! Enough _with the constipation song!"

I laughed. "Let's go break them up."

Two hours later, we were stuffed full of food from The Cheesecake Factory **(A/N: Do they have those in Canada?)**. They serve just a little less that what we need, but a huge slice of apple pie each (it's more like three in one) cured that. It was hugely expensive, and there had been way too many people there for my taste (remember all the times we try to eat in restaurants?) but we were really full for the first time in…well, a long time.

I draped myself across the aisle of the plane and closed my eyes in contentment. I was suddenly extremely tired. Being chased by Flyboys, hit on, chased through an airport, and running through the woods for a whole afternoon can really take it out of a girl.

Gazzy moaned with pleasure, holding his stomach. "Apple pie…whipped cream…spaghetti with meatballs…_so good…_" Total whined in agreement.

"Spaghetti?" scoffed Nudge. "I used to love spaghetti, but _god, _did you _taste _the fettuccini?"

"Thank you, Angel," said Iggy, grinning. "I _love _your mind control." Yeah, they definitely would not have let us in if it wasn't for Ange. She changed my mind too, but not _that _way. I would know.

I felt a slight pressure on my arm and opened my eyes. It was Fang who was leaning over me, his long, dark hair falling perfectly into his eyes. "Come outside with me," he said quietly. I looked at him questioningly but got up without commenting. I know what you're thinking – she didn't demand an explanation? Shut up. You don't know anything.

Once we were outdoors, I took a huge breath of fresh air. "Claustrophobic in there?" Fang asked me, the corners of his mouth turning upward. I just nodded, still taking deep breaths. "Me too," he agreed. "It's too close together-"

"-and you feel like you can't breathe," I finished. He nodded.

"How does everyone else stand it?"

"We're the only ones with any common sense, I guess," I replied, and flopped down on my back onto the sparse grass outside the plane, staring up at the trees and stars. Fang sat down beside me and wrapped one arm lazily around his knees.

"I wanted to talk to you," he began.

"Yeah, I guessed that." He glared at me and continued.

"It's about that password."

"Exactly what was it?" I sighed, rolling on my side to face him.

"I typed your full name."

I lay my head down on the ground, realizing that my hair was starting to get longer again from when I'd gotten it all chopped off. The pink streaks were practically all gone. "Why does all of this still surprise me?" I asked. "It shouldn't, not after all we've been through."

"If it didn't, there'd be something wrong with you," he said, making me smile a little. "I won't say quit worrying, cause you won't, but can I say _try _to quit worrying?"

"You can say it. It's not gonna work." I pushed myself all the way up and shivered in a sudden breeze. Fang scooted closer and put one black sleeved arm around my shoulders. When I looked at him, it was almost like he had formed out of the shadows around us. "Thanks," I said, leaning gratefully into him.

"Fang?' I said after awhile.

"What?"

"How do you think they got our pictures?"

His arm tightened reflexively around me. "Yours and Iggy's are easy. There were definitely cameras in those rooms. As for all the others – Flyboys are my guess."

I got a mental image of a Flyboy holding up a camera. "Huh?"

"They've probably got cameras in their eyes or something," he said, thinking out loud. "That would explain why my foot is aimed at the camera."

"Yeah, the pic was probably sent back to Itex right before you killed it," I said, halfway between joking and seriousness. "What else do you think is on there?"

"Doubtless info on how they created us," Fang said, sounding slightly bitter.

"Well, there _is _one good thing about they fact that we're mutant teens on the lam from evil scientists eager to dissect us."

I could see some of the smile come back into his eyes. "What?"

I waved my hand at the plane behind us. "What better family is there?"

"None," he agreed. "Together forever and all that crap, right?"

"Right," I said, kissing his cheek and blushing slightly. He didn't let me pull away fully, though, instead turning my face back toward his and pressing our lips together.

I don't think I'll ever be the kind of girl who has a boyfriend that she constantly gushes over, but for Fang I might just make an exception. I don't want to be (shudder) some giggling _Barbie _doll or something. He'd probably hate me anyway if I was.

I let my hands drift to his shoulder and closed my eyes. His arms and torso were muscular and hard, but I pressed myself to him anyway. Here I knew I was safe. God, that sounds like a Hallmark card.

I didn't want to pull away, but I did. "Let's go," I said. "They'll be wondering where we are."

He smiled, extending a hand to pull me up. "You're the boss."

"And don't forget it!" I reminded him, grinning as we went inside.

It's not a mark of bad leadership if you depend a _bit _on another person, right?

**A/N: I hope this was still okay! I was a little rusty because I just updated both of my Harry Potter FFs, and I needed to get back into Max's voice. **


	11. Global Warming

**A/N: I plotted out the entire story! Now I finally have a plan!! Hooray!!!**

The next day, we said sayonara to our plane home and took to the air. I didn't know what we were supposed to be doing. I hated having no plan. It gave me no sense of purpose. Without a plan, what else was I supposed to do?

We went on a flight just for fun, wheeling and banking sharply above the clouds. Total got a little airsick when Fang tried a move almost like a mid air flip. I hope that didn't land on someone down below…I think Fang did that on purpose. It'd be just like him to get back at Total for eating that last hot dog.

"Max, watch me!" cried Angel, zooming past. She tilted upward and looped the loop in the air, nearly whacking a high flying blue jay.

"Nice!" I laughed. I felt a tap on my shoulder from a wing.

"Tag!" yelled Gazzy. "You're it!"

**-Max.-**

I actually dropped two feet in the air. That was NOT Jeb. This was a new freaking voice! What the h-e- double hockey sticks was going on here? I thought I was crazy before, but geez, people, _this _is just crossing the line.

Fang noticed my drop and probably horrified look. "What is it? Jeb?"

I shook my head dumbly. "Worse," I answered. "A _different _voice."

"You have _two _voices?" he asked, his eyes widening in disbelief. Yep, that's me, Maximum Ride, girl with voices in her head.

"Keep it down!" I hissed.

"Hey, Max! Come on, you're it!" Gazzy called from thirty feet away.

"Pretend nothing happened," I muttered to Fang, and flew to catch up to Gazzy. My mind was going a million miles an hour. Was Jeb messing with my mind? Did Itex make a new voice? Or did I just finally go schizo? I could feel Fang's eyes on my back, and it wasn't helping.

I put on a burst of speed and tackled Gazzy easily. "Now I'm not!" I said, trying to sound cheerful. I think it only worked half way, because Gazzy gave me a suspicious look before racing off to tag an unsuspecting Nudge.

I flew slightly away from everyone to gather my thoughts. I _had _to decide where to go. We couldn't stay flying in circles forever. Canada is _huge – _just where in it were we supposed to be?

_**Anywhere, Max. **_

I jumped, but thankfully this time it was Jeb and not the mysterious new voice.

_So I could land right here and it would be fine? _I asked him. Yeah, right. That was too easy.

_**Yes, you could. As long as you turn on a television at six this evening. **_

_What? Watch T.V? _

_**You heard me. **_

_Wait! _I cried mentally, because I had a feeling he was about to go. _Do you know anything about a new voice in my head?_

There was silence. I muttered swear words under my breath. Why didn't he ever answer important questions? But no, he was answering! Hallelujah!

_**New voice? There should be only me. **_

_Well, there's not, smarty pants. There's another one. _

_**There shouldn't be. **_

_Well, there is! So tell me what the hell is going on! _I demanded. I glanced toward my flock. They were oblivious to my mental argument – all except for Fang, whose eyes had never left me.

_**I don't know. I'll look into it, Max. Swear. **_

_You better hurry, _I told him. _I don't know what's going on and I don't want Itex to come crashing down on us because they follow my every move. _

_**Six o'clock news, Max. Remember. **_

Then he was gone. Isn't he such a help?

Later

Just because I was antsy – and okay, partially because Jeb had told me to – we had landed to explore the town beneath us. We had, while playing, crossed into a French speaking town, and the people surrounded us in a bubble of random sounds. Iggy, however, didn't look quite so tense. He was probably imagining all the French speaking girls. _Guys_…but if _Fang _was looking at all the French speaking girls, he wouldn't have any more eyes to stare at them with.

We passed a restaurant that wafted smells of yet more delicious food towards us and I heard the ever growing hole in my stomach demanding me to march in there and eat all of that yummy smelling food. One glance at Nudge showed that she felt the same way. I glanced at my watch. It was four thirty five. We were going to have to eat soon.

I tapped Fang's black sleeved arm, which was on my right. "Where should we stay the night? In town?"

He glanced around it quickly. It looked like he was taking in the building structures, but really he was scanning it for hazard spots – places where a Flyboy could hide behind, or a random person could jump easily from the shadows. "It doesn't seem too dangerous," he said. "But looks can be deceiving."

"So should we chance it?" I asked.

He glanced around again, and then shrugged. "What do we have to lose?" Well, let's see, our freedom, our _lives…_but we risk those every day. Not much new there. Just routine: fighting robots, dive bombing into oceans, passing out from brain attacks – same old, same old.

There was an inn around ten blocks away according to a billboard, which we walked leisurely down to, acting like your normal tourist Americans. (We walked toward the inn, not the billboard. Yeah, let's all play skip around the billboard!) I wished I could avoid all the crowds and just _fly _there, but that wasn't the brightest idea I'd had. So we had to go at a snail's pace through the throngs of people shopping or talking. I hate acting normal.

After about a million years, we reached the tiny inn. It was away from most of the commotion, which was good and bad. Less of a crowd, easier for people to pick you out, harder for people to hear your screams. It looked like a house. Well, a house with around ten bedrooms.

"What do we do?" asked Nudge. "Do we just go up there and knock and be like, 'Can we sleep here? We're hungry and tired and want a bath.'"

I shrugged. My mind was still on that second voice. "Whatever it takes to get us in. I'm not picky." I led them up to the front door and used the silver knocker to announce their brand new guests. It swung open almost instantly to show a fat, smiling woman. The smile slid off her face when she saw us.

"What do you want?" she asked Fang suspiciously, obviously thinking he was our gang ringleader.

Fang looked at me and said nothing. I cleared my throat and stepped forward, digging in my pocket for money. "We want a place to stay," I told her, looking her in the eye and whipping the credit card out into plain view.

Greed washed over her face. She didn't even care where we'd gotten the credit card from. "Come in, come in," she said, smiling sweetly. "Would you like a room with a view of the town…?"

Oh, please.

She led us up a flight of stairs past a living room, a dining room, and a closed off kitchen to where I guessed the rooms were. A hallway stretched both ways, with closed doors along each side. Snores were coming from one. I didn't like being so close to other people. Not at all.

"There's a family suite," she said. "Would you like that? We can bring you two roll away beds. There's a bedroom with two beds, a living room with a pull out couch bed, and then there'll be the two roll aways of course."

"Whatever," I said. "That's fine. Do you have any food? We're starving."

"Dinner's served from five to eight," she simpered. Gag. Me. Now. All this woman needs is an apron and she'll be Mrs. Butterworth's or whatever that syrup lady's named.

She pressed a room key into my hand and walked away to swipe our credit card. She didn't say how much it would be costing us to stay here, I noticed. I fit the key into the lock and opened the door.

It was pretty big, but she had said it was a suite. Gazzy and Angel could share the couch bed, Fang and Iggy could have the roll away beds, and Nudge and I could take the bed room. Yeah, it would work. I scanned the room. There was a television in the living room. Jeb would get his wish.

"Gazzy, do you mind sharing a bed with Angel for tonight?" I asked him. He shrugged one shoulder, dirty blonde hair flopping into his blue eyes. He was wearing it the same way as Fang now, but the blonde didn't have the same effect as the black. "Good, then Nudge and I can take the bedroom and Iggy and Fang can take the roll aways." I knew the guys wouldn't complain – it was a bed, and beds are a heck of a lot better than the ground.

We dumped what little stuff we had and promised to bring Total back some food for dinner. I went out last, locking the door behind me and slipping the key into my pocket. Dinner was pretty basic, just chicken fingers and some fries. I was glad we were the only diners in the room, because there wasn't enough food left for anyone else. The owner's look of surprise only got funnier when she saw how much Angel alone ate. Bet she'd never seen a six year old who can eat twenty chicken fingers.

"Here's your card back," she said to me, giving me an odd look. "I'll swipe it again at the end of your stay." _Now go to your room, _said her look.

I smirked. "Whatever you say." I herded my flock back up the stairs. It was nearly six. Whatever Jeb wanted me to watch would be coming on soon.

I sat on the couch next to Iggy and turned on the set. It made a clicking noise somewhere and turned on to an old Western show. I flipped through the channels until I came to the news. Iggy looked at me disbelievingly.

"Since when do _you _watch the news?"

"Be quiet," I said, watching the screen.

We sat through half an hour of stuff I didn't care about before anything interesting came on. A blonde anchor sat behind a desk, trying and failing to look serious behind all of her makeup. "The issue of global warming is becoming more and more prominent each day," she recited, looking into the camera. "Glaciers are melting, floods and hurricanes are becoming frequent, and that's only the beginning." Clips of natural disasters played in the background. God. So much drama, so little news.

The segment continued for the next two minutes until she concluded dramatically, "If nothing is done, half of the world's population may die."

That sounded vaguely familiar…I had a memory of a By – Half plan….

_**Do you see what I mean, Max? **_

I jumped and said out loud, "Are you trying to tell me _Itex _is behind _global warming?" _

**A/N: And, cut! All done now. I know you want to review…please review?**


	12. More of Itex's Plans

**A/N: Okay, just FYI, I have varsity volleyball every day, AP homework, and taking care of my mom just to start. So I really do try to update faster, but it's pretty tough. All global warming facts in the chapter are just that, facts. I just learned about it in biology, but there's always the chance I made a mistake. And I do understand that not everyone believes in global warming. On with the chappie!**

Okay. On a shock scale of one to ten, this is _easily _a twenty five.

"Did I hear that right?" Iggy asked in disbelief. "_Global warming? _Are you kidding me?"

I cranked the volume on the TV, hoping to hear more, but the fateful segment was over. "Fang!" I yelled. "Get in here!" Screw the whole 'quiet in the hotel' thing. All the people in the entire inn will be quiet if we don't find out more. Quiet and _dead. _

Fang burst into the room and scanned for danger. When he found none, his eyes landed on me. "What's wrong?" He didn't move from the doorway.

"I know how Itex is going to carry out their By – Half plan," I said, flipping through the news channels and hoping for another segment. I glanced over at him. He was looking at me expectantly.

"Well?" He asked. "How?"

"Global warming," I said. I continued flipping through the channels. There was a dog show (Total would _love _that, I'm sure), a stupid kiddie show, ABC Family, another news channel, but nothing more on global warming. I stood and turned off the television. Turning to Fang, I continued, "They're using global warming. Go get the laptop and look it up." He was gone and back in under ten seconds. He sat on the couch next to Iggy and powered up the laptop. He was logged onto Google in a few moments.

"Are you going to blog about this?" Iggy asked him.

"Probably. There might be people out there who know a lot about this." Fang hit 'search'. The results page popped up with a ton of science websites. Headlines blared at us from the screen – "Global Warming: Is it a myth?" "Global warming: Should YOU be scared?" "Global warming basics." Fang clicked on the third one and waited for the page to load.

He read it quickly and turned the page to me. "It's too perfect," he murmured. "No one would know what hit them."

Iggy cleared his throat pointedly.

"Sorry, Ig," I apologized. "Alright, here's what it says – 'Global warming is still a matter of intense research around the world. As our home slowly disintegrates, many humans are looking the other way. No one wants to believe that our entire planet could soon be wiped out.'" I whistled under my breath. "Freaky."

"Keep reading," he told me grimly.

"At the top of the danger scale is the fact that more and more species are becoming endangered every day," I continued reading. "For example, the polar bear's habitat is slowly being destroyed, which is linked to the melting glaciers. The earth's temperature has risen two degrees, which may not sound like a problem, but it's enough to cause not just some, but _all _of the glaciers to melt. The polar bears depend almost entirely on the glaciers and the temperature to survive. With both of those factors changed, they are rapidly approaching extinction."

A growing sense of horror gnawed at the pit of my stomach. I knew that this was only going to get worse. Not only would everyone think that this was just some natural disaster phenomenon, more of everything was dying as we spoke.

"One supposed cause of global warming is the raised level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. This also causes acid rain, which in turn also kills aquatic organisms, plants, organisms that eat said plants, and carnivores or omnivores who eat those organisms. The excess carbon dioxide is burning a hole in the ozone layer, which lets more heat warm the earth." Wonder how much of that carbon dioxide was purposefully released by Itex, then.

Iggy's eyes widened. "No wonder it's been so dang hot lately!"

"Yeah, that explains a lot," I replied, concentrating on reading the rest of the page. There were more facts on global warming with a message at the very bottom – "Pull together and stop global warming!"

Yeah. Stop _Itex_. Like, I'm so sure.

It was time for a flock meeting.

OoOoOoOo

I tackled Angel and Nudge from the bedroom where they had been jumping on the bed and banged on the bathroom door to tell Gazzy to hurry up. I stood in front of the TV and watched my flock assemble before me. I felt like a drill sergeant surveying my troops. Fang stood on my right. I smiled some. He was so literally my right hand man.

"What's wrong?" asked Nudge, realizing that we wouldn't have been called all together for just anything. Smart kid. "Why do you look so serious?"

"I was about to tell you," I told her. "We found something more about Itex."

Gazzy's eyes widened and Angel sent me a thought that asked, _What? _

"They're using global warming," I said. "Fang, give 'em the details."

He cleared his throat. "We think that they're releasing more carbon dioxide than normal into the atmosphere. That's why it's so hot all the time now. The earth's temperature went up by two degrees."

"Two degrees?" scoffed Total. "That's not exactly a lot." Stupid know it all dog. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.

"I was getting to that," Fang said coolly. "For the entire earth's temperature to rise two degrees _is _a lot. Glaciers are melting, so all the arctic animals are dying. Plus, acid rain is causing other animals to die."

"We learned about this in school," Nudge said suddenly and excitedly, the memory lighting up her face in triumph. "You know, when we were with Anne. Our teacher told us all about it in science!"

"What do you remember?" I asked her urgently.

"Well, if the glaciers all melt a bit more, then a lot of the world could be flooded," she said, frowning. "Like, California would be completely gone. And Italy, I think. And all of the islands wouldn't even exist anymore. They'd all be wiped out." She waved her hands dramatically to show just how wiped out they'd be. "And plus, there'll be a ton more hurricanes now. Like Katrina. That was part global warming. Don't you think Katrina's a pretty name, though? Too bad it was used to name a hurricane."

I shot her the _Nudge, shut up _look. "This makes things even worse," I said, shaking my head. "I mean, California and Italy have a gazillion people, not to mention people who are vacationing for the summer or something. If they're flooded, not even all of America could save them _all, _let alone six bird kids. And that's not even counting the people that live on the islands." I rubbed my temples. I was starting to get a pounding headache.

"Well, that settles things," said Fang suddenly.

I looked over at him, confused. "What?"

"We've got to find out more about this whole global warming thing and figure out how Itex is causing all of this, don't we? If they're going to reduce the world's population by half, then they've got tons more hidden up their sleeve."

He had a point. "Itex's site?" I asked him.

Fang nodded. "Itex's site."

Nudge looked at us in confusion. "Itex has a website?"

"Kinda," I replied. "It's a locked database. It's got a whole ton of info on it. We just found it yesterday."

"You didn't tell us?" demanded Gazzy. "Why not?"

Um, good question. I looked at Fang, sending him a look that asked, _Should we tell them about the information on us? _He barely shook his head. He was right – the little ones might get a little too freaked that Itex kept such careful tabs on us. "We hadn't found anything yet," I lied. "We were going to tell you when we found something important." He accepted that, but I felt guilty for lying.

"If it was locked, how did you get in?" asked Nudge.

"Fang guessed the password," I told her, hating where this was going.

"What was it?" She dropped the bomb.

"Me," I replied reluctantly. "It was my full name."

The room was silent for a moment before Total broke the silence with, "Well, you're popular, aren't you?"

Next chance I get, I'm dropping him in a river.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

We waited until the next morning to check Itex's site again. Fang and I took the laptop away from everyone else into a corner of the room. "Can I check something first?" he asked me. "I posted on the blog last night, and I want to check out what people said."

"Yeah, go ahead," I shrugged. What did I care anymore? That thing honestly used to bug me with how much stock he put in it, but considering the fact that it saved our lives in Germany, I figure I'll let him post all he wants.

Fang opened his email account, which was, as usual, crowded with emails. I noticed a familiar name in the inbox. "Hold up, Fang," I said, my eyes narrowing. "Why are you still talking to Lissa?"

"I haven't been," he said calmly, looking straight at me. "_She _is talking to _me_, and I'm doing my best not to say basically anything." I looked at him suspiciously and clicked on the email. I could see what he'd been saying.

"Are you jealous?" he asked me. "And reading people's mail is against the law, by the way."

"What?" I asked him dangerously. "I know you didn't just accuse me of being jealous of the Red Haired Wonder."

He looked at me pointedly.

"We've been over this," I told him, and refused to answer the question, even though that smug smirk of his infuriated me. I muttered under my breath about stupid guys and their egos before scanning Lissa's email. Jealous or not, I was reading it anyway. It gushed:

_Hi, Nick!_

_Guess what? I made the volleyball team at school? Tryouts are in the summer, but the season won't start for awhile. I'm SO excited. This is major. I really wish you were here to watch me play, though._

_I have a stupid stalker, though. He won't leave me alone. I think he LIKES me. Wouldn't that be so weird? His name is Mark. He broke up with Madalan, did you know that? I was so shocked. _

_Did you start school wherever you are? Miss you –_

_Lissa_

_P.S. Please reply soon!_

"Aw!" I teased. "She misses you!"

"Shut up," he muttered, taking the laptop away. She can miss him all she wants, I thought, he's never going back to her.

Fang typed a quick reply:

_I'm replying. R U happy now?_

_Yeah, I started school on Wednesday, but it was only a half day._

_Congrats on making volleyball._

_I don't think you'll have 2 worry about mark, once you start school I don't think he'll want anything to do w/ u. everyone already knows that mark and madalan broke up. It didn't even last one week into the summer. _

I was satisfied with that. I was jealous, he knew that, but I hated, _hated _saying it out loud. You have no idea how much that hurt my pride.

"So anyway," Fang said, blowing off the email and returning to his inbox, "let's see what people have said so far." He clicked on the first comment email and scanned it. "No luck there," he told me. "They say that they have absolutely no clue what global warming is."

"Check the next one," I suggested. "There's bound to be someone. There will be."

Sure enough, three comments later, we got lucky. "My dad's a scientist!" exclaimed one blog reader. "Not an evil one, but just one that works at the university nearby. He could tell me tons about global warming! I'll get back to you!!!"

I grinned and settled back into my chair in satisfaction. "Perfect."

Fang shut down the email program and typed in Itex's web address into the search bar. "Now that we've found one promising comment, let's see what Itex has to say…" His voice trailed off. I had to keep my heart from sinking when he typed my name in as the password. I couldn't help but be reminded of how abnormal my life was.

Fang typed in our search and the computer whirred. "What do you think we'll find?" I asked, only a little worried.

The page loaded. _Restricted information, _it said. _Please log in with your work ID and password. _

"Well, that as good as tells me that we're right," I said to Fang with raised eyebrows. "Itex _is _behind global warming."

His eyes met mine. "So now what?"

**A/N: This is really bugging me. I have the chapter done, but my Internet is down! So, if you're reading this, I obviously got it back. Sorry for the long wait. I really, really am. I wish I could just skip homework and concentrate on just **_**writing **_**for once. But unfortunately, I can't. So, I'm stuck with the available weekends when I don't have a volleyball tournament. **


	13. Causer de Carbon

**A/N: I already feel better. I was starting to get an overload of story plot in my head and I had to sit down and get it all out. Phew! Alrighty, good news. Volleyball season is over. ******** (We lost in super sectionals.) BUT: Now I have free time! Which means more updates! (I hope.) **

"I don't believe you," said Iggy, glaring at me.

I sighed. We had left the inn this morning and had traveled to the nearest city, which just happened to be the capital of Toronto. It was currently noon here, sunny, hot, overflowing with people, and I was extremely stressed out.

"It's _lunchtime_," continued Iggy, "we walked _right by _a hot dog place, and you didn't even _stop_. Have you lost your _mind_?" Well, actually, about that…

He crossed his arms and continued to walk beside Nudge on the sidewalk. She also looked like she was starving. What else was new?

"Iggy, I swear, right after we find a library or something, we will eat. Everyone's hungry, I get it. But we've really got some stuff to find out now." I ran a hand through my hair and sidestepped a steaming doggy present. Tall, forbidding buildings stretched on either side of us, and though it was slightly more spread out than New York or Chicago, I still got the feeling of claustrophobia. One of the perks of growing up in a cage.

"You can't eat in libraries," he replied. "So basically, _after _we find whatever it is that we're looking for, which could take hours, then we'll eat."

I hesitated, scanning the building fronts as a tour bus trundled by. "Um, yeah, that's about right."

Iggy huffed. "I can't-"

"Believe me, I know, I know." He did kind of have a point, but I was jumpy. Every second we took, Itex was getting closer to their goal. How much time did we have before it ran out?

"The world won't end while we eat, you know," Fang murmured behind me, reading my thoughts again. I glanced wistfully at him. Fang was normally right, which meant we should stop to eat something. Groan.

"Okay, Iggy, turn around," I gave in. "You can get your stupid hot dog." I turned my flock around on the sidewalk and nearly mowed down a business woman wearing sneakers and a suit.

Iggy slapped Nudge five, who grinned. "Yes!" he cheered. "Food!"

I shook my head. What could I do but love them?

**-Max, Max, Max.-**

Oh, yay. The second voice strikes again. My shoulders sagged. I looked at Fang and bit my lip. He took one look at my agitated face and understood. "Which one?"

I held up two fingers. "It just said my name."

Angel's head suddenly snapped around to face me. "Max? What do you mean, you have two voices?"

"Nothing, nothing," I said hurriedly. "I meant Jeb and me." She couldn't know about the second one. No one but Fang could know. I didn't know if she bought my explanation or not –who does anymore?-, but I wasn't about to elaborate.

**-Do you know who I am, Max?- **

_NO. No, I don't, and I don't plan to_, I answered back without thinking. Today's sign of insanity is – not one, but _two _voices in your head that you're constantly talking to.

**-Keep thinking. You'll get it…-**

"Max? Come back to us." Fang was waving his hand in front of my face. "Are you okay? What's going on?" We were starting to attract weird looks, and half of the flock was a few steps ahead, heading for food.

"I'll tell you later," I said, exhaling.

I'll tell you, this life sure never gets boring. There's never a dull moment. I haven't decided yet whether that's okay, or just annoying and potentially life threatening. And extra dangerous. And did I mention it was _annoying? _

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Ten minutes later, each flock member had a hot dog in their hands, I had no voice talking to me in my head, and we were on the move again. Constantly, constantly, moving. Sometimes, I just wish I could be _normal, _you know? No one chasing us, no world to save…just a _room _to clean or something. You hear me? Quit complaining about cleaning that room!

Nudge wiped a smear of ketchup from off of her face. "Max?" she asked, an expression on her face that said that she was clearly thinking about something.

"Yeah, Nudge?" I replied.

"What exactly are we looking for?"

"More things about global warming," I said, without even pausing to think.

"Didn't we already find out stuff about that? Remember, I told you and we watched that T.V. program?"

"Well, yeah," I answered, "but that's not enough. We have absolutely no idea how to _stop _it. It's, like, a globaleffort thrust on six kids. So we need something on a _smaller _scale. Got it?" Actually, I didn't even get it. I don't seem to get a lot of things lately. I hate it. I hate it with a passion.

"Yeah, okay," she said. "How long is that gonna take?"

I have to admit, I was stumped on that one. "Um….a month?" I guessed. "Somewhere in that general direction…" I trailed off, frowning towards a random building. "I'm not exactly sure."

"A _month?" _asked Gazzy disbelievingly through a mouthful of hotdog. "It'll take that long?"

I glanced at Fang. He just looked back at me impassively, as if to say, _It's your call. _

"Maybe," I replied, backtracking. "That was a _maybe _it could take a month. I'm not sure." I didn't want to say that I had no clue. I wanted to tell them, "Oh, it'll only take a week. Maybe it'll even take just two days, and then we'll be on our merry way!" But there was no point in filling their head with stuff that would never come true. Like telling them that the world was really a wonderful place. I only do so much lying, you know.

I snatched up a road map from the hands of a vendor and ignored his protests that I pay. From the looks of him, he'd stolen quite a bit himself. I scanned the map quickly and immediately found something interesting (written in French, of course): _Causer de carbone. _Carbone? Could that mean something like, carbon?

I stopped stock still and moved off of the sidewalk before I was plowed over. "Hold up," I called. "I found something."

Fang was reading over my shoulder in an instant. "What is it?"

I pointed to the phrase. "It looks like it says something about carbon. Isn't that one of the causes of global warming?"

Fang nodded and provided his own translation. "Carbon causer?"

Total trotted over, being nosy. "What did you find? Is it written in French? I could help."

I rolled my eyes. "Oh, all knowing Total, please, enlighten us with your knowledge of languages."

He huffed. "I will, thanks. It means, _causers of carbon._"

"Carbon's in coal," I realized. "Isn't it?"

"Yeah," said Fang slowly. "So?"

"_So,_" I pressed on, "what countries produce a lot of coal?" I was on the verge of figuring out something, I knew I was. I just couldn't figure out exactly _what. _

"I don't know," shrugged Fang. Then it dawned on him. "You're saying-"

"There's probably a huge Itex headquarters wherever the biggest producer of coal is!" I exclaimed excitedly.

Fang didn't look quite as thrilled. Surprise. "You mean Jeb hasn't said anything about this yet?"

"Think about it," I said, warming up to my idea. Nudge was listening interestedly, but I found I didn't care. "We all realize Itex isn't stupid. I mean, hello, we're here! They've probably figured out Jeb could double cross them at any time. He could double cross us, too. So, either, one – he doesn't know because Itex won't tell him, two – he doesn't want to tell us because he's betraying us _again_, or three – I haven't got a three yet, but it'll come!" I looked at him, grinning and shading my eyes from the bright sun. "Where's a bench or something? We need to back this up."

"With…?"

"Evidence, smart one. Get out the laptop."

We gathered the flock and herded them to a tree–shaded park. I sat on the nearest bench and watched my flock sit to finish eating. Angel swung her legs back and forth – even though she was tall for her age, her feet still didn't touch the ground.

Fang sat next to me and exhaled as he took out the laptop. We used that thing tons more lately. He opened up Google and searched for _world carbon producers. _"Bingo," he muttered, clicking on a website labeled, _World Coal Institute. _I leaned closer to read.

_The largest coal producing countries are not confined to one region – the top five producers are China, the USA, India, Australia and South Africa. Much of global coal production is used in the country in which it was produced, only around 16 of hard coal production is destined for the international coal market._

_Global coal production is expected to reach 7000 Mt in 2030 – with China accounting for around half the increase over this period. Steam coal production is projected to have reached around 5200 Mt; coking coal 620 Mt; and brown coal 1200 Mt._

"_China? _Isn't that the country that was going to sell us as weapons?" Fang asked me. For once today he sounded remotely interested.

"Yeah," I said, wide eyed. "This is no coincidence."

"Whoa."

"Yeah, whoa," I agreed.

**A/N: That blurb that they just read? I didn't make that up. That's **_**real,**_** people. Just go to Google and type in their search. Or, go to my profile for the link. That website will pop up. There's a graph on there, too. I do put research into this, and eventually I'll go by the Flock's blog as well, so if you really want to find cool stuff in here from now on, pay attention in school. (Much as we ALL hate it. I do, too.) **

**Happy discovering! (And oh yeah, review please.)**


	14. China?

**A/N: No offense to China meant, just so you all know. All the stuff I'm finding is SO freaky, though. Thanks so much for your reviews, guys! 191 and counting – nine more and we reach my goal of 200. Then I'll have to set my goal at **_**400**_**…. -grins- I think we can, if all the 65 people so far who have put me on Story Alert (wow!) and the 36 that have added me to Favorite Stories all review, plus cough. On with the chapter!**

But we were getting ahead of ourselves here, weren't we? We still had to find this Carbon Causers Institute. But curiosity got the better of me, and I decided to keep digging on this whole China thing.

"Hey, Nudge," I called. She had been attempting to coax a squirrel into eating a piece of her hot dog bun unsuccessfully. She looked up from where she was squatted on the grass.

"Yeah?"

"Come here and see if you can dig up anything on China," I suggested, motioning with my head to tell her to sit next to me. "Then we're going to go check out this carbon institute company."

She grinned, and I could read in her face that she was eager for a challenge. "How long will you give me?"

I shrugged. "Fifteen minutes? Half an hour? Knock yourself dead."

She got nimbly up off of the ground and came over to the bench where Fang and I were sitting. Fang handed her the laptop and Nudge settled it on her lap, grinning like the Cheshire Cat. Her brown fingers flew over the keys. I settled back in my seat and closed my eyes, imagining that the breeze that blew my face was really a slipstream ruffling my feathers as I flew through the sky, without worries or voices or –

"Got something," said Nudge's triumphant voice. "In forty five seconds. New record!" She smiled smugly and angled the laptop my way to read. It was some scientific article about China needing a whole ton of raw materials (for reasons unstated), but they didn't want to accept one hundred and forty two billion dollars to get them because it would mean merging two larger companies. Or something like that. I raised my eyebrows.

"Save that page," I told her. "Anything else?"

"There will be. Gimme a sec." She focused on the screen, eyes narrowed slightly. I surveyed the rest of the flock, making sure that everyone was still here and not being carried off by any whitecoats. Gazzy and Iggy were talking about something in hushed tones beneath a tree – never a good sign – and Angel was stroking Total on the bench next to ours. She giggled at something he'd said and scratched behind his ears. Total closed his eyes and opened his mouth in a doggy grin.

"There's something about the U.S. trying to make an investigation into how China makes paper, but I'm sure it's nothing," she murmured, clicking to the next page. "And there's a ton of stuff about how China's trade is goin' up. I mean, practically every site has something about it – 'China to import 10 million tons of LNG annually by 2010', 'China-Russia trade reaches thirty nine billion in first nine months', 'Total trade volume may exceed 2.1 trillion this year'- they're busy, aren't they?" She looked up from the screen at me.

"Mega busy," I agreed, not knowing _what _exactly to make of that. Maybe Itex controlled China's government or something.

Okay. Scary thought.

Fang's brooding eyes peered at the website. "Click that link," he ordered Nudge suddenly. He pointed at the screen to a link that said: _Expert: China to become world's second largest trader_. She did as he said and her mouth dropped open. Even Fang's face registered a look of utter surprise.

"Does no one speak anymore?" I asked them, scanning the article. Okay, I had to admit it _was _pretty dang coincidental. But coincidences don't even exist in my world. Everything happens on purpose, and whenever there's a coincidence, it's nothing good.

I'm sure you all are just screaming at me to spit it out already, ain't ya? Well, I'm getting there!

The article, summarized, pretty much talked about how there was so much trade going on in China, it was about to pass up the U.S, the world's largest trader. (Big surprise there.) Then it talked about a whole ton of financial things, but _then_ it said that the third largest trader was _Germany. _Germany, where Itex's supposed biggest headquarters was. Germany, where we were held captive and found out crucial things about our entire lives. Remember what I said about coincidences? Apply that here.

Guess Germany is no longer the Itex head honcho.

"Please tell me that we aren't going to break into _another _high security building probably loaded with people that are out for our blood," Fang said, looking pointedly at me. We were walking through the city again, heading for the address on the Carbon Causers specified on that directory we'd – _acquired – _from that vendor.

"We aren't going to break into _another _high security building probably loaded with people that are out for our blood. We're going in the front door. It's not breaking in. Why? Scared?" I taunted, but I grinned to let him know I was joking.

"Nah, _I'm_ just the careful one."

"You know, that's funny. I was _so_ sure it was _me _who saved all of your lives too many times to count."

"Will the two of you lovers shut up?" grumbled Iggy. "I'm trying to hear."

Nudge raised an eyebrow at me, a slow smile curving her lips. "Ooh, _Max…_did you hear what he just called you and Fang?"

"Yeah, I heard," I replied, with a wry glance at Fang himself. He shrugged a shoulder and flashed me a rare smile, brightening the shadows more than the sun did. "I'm deciding to just give him a death glare and move on."

"Glare all you want, diva," Iggy said in an offhand tone. "I'm not gonna see it."

"Excuse me, macho man? _Diva?" _

"Break it up, kids," said Fang, holding a hand out to each of us. "Play nicely." I scowled at him, and Gazzy laughed.

I stopped. "There it is." It looked the same as any other building on this block – a tall, black skyscraper, with one big difference –

The Carbon Causers building had no windows.

Hello. Big tip off there, people. I mean, it totally screams, "DON'T COME IN HERE! TOP SECRET EVIL GENIUS WORK!" or something.

A door opened and your typical working guy came out. He was maybe five nine, balding, white, and carrying a briefcase. He wasn't wearing a white coat and he didn't have a secretive air, he was just….normal.

Fang glanced my way. "So?"

"So, we're doing a research project," I said, coming up with a story. "We need facts on global warming and we thought they could help. Got it?"

Gazzy snapped a salute. "Yes, ma'am!"

"Okay," I said briskly, "let's go." I stepped across the street to the forbidding building. That ever-present sense of foreboding was back. I suddenly wasn't sure if we should go in, but I knew we had to figure this out.

So I ignored that sense. Which is never good.

As I pulled open the door, a _whoosh _of cold air blew my hair back. The floor was made up of black tiles, and the ceiling was really high. A bank of elevators was on the right, and a desk was directly by the door. A woman was seated behind it, chewing gum and seemingly oblivious to the world.

I strode up to the desk and cleared my throat. "Uh, hi." How's that for eloquent? "We're here for research on a school project. Could you give us anything?"

The brunette looked up and popped her bubble. She couldn't have been more than twenty, judging from her face. She scanned the six of us, and her eyes landed on Angel. An eyebrow raised. I'm sure she was wondering why someone who looked to be only nine was doing a global warming project with us. "Like a brochure?"

"Yeah." I said, leaning my elbow on the desk. "Got one?"

She regarded me closely for a moment through slightly narrowed eyes, and then finally agreed. "Alright. Here," She handed me a pamphlet emblazoned with the company's logo. "This is basically everything you need to know about this company. What our purpose is, our objectives, the directors, everything's there. If you want to learn some more about global warming, you go to the website on the back, okay?" She went back to typing on her computer. She was probably IMing her boyfriend or something.

An elevator dinged, and I whirled around, the pamphlet clutched tightly in my hands. A man stepped out, wearing –

A white coat.

My heart nearly stopped.

I managed to regain my composure. "Let's go, guys," I muttered under my breath. "Time to get out of here." Angel took hold of my hand, and I squeezed it tightly. I forced a reassuring smile and all but dragged her with me to the door.

"Are those reports almost done, Brandy?" he asked the receptionist. "I want to finish my experiment and then-" He caught sight of our little group. "What are you kids doing here?"

"Leaving," said Iggy. "Bye!" He pushed the door halfway open, but the man spoke again.

"Do I know you kids?"

"No, I'm sure you don't," said Nudge, pushing Iggy out of the door. "We don't get out much. We'll be seeing you!" We ran out of there without looking back.

I _knew _I should have listened to that gut feeling I'd had.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I ran my flock for five blocks until I was sure that there was no one from that building following us. I released a long breath. That had been way close. For all we knew, that whitecoat could be phoning the Itex company in America right now, doing that thing on the news where they're like, "It's eleven o'clock. Do you know where your children are?" Only in this case it would be, "Do you know where your mutant freaks are?"

Fang leaned up against a building and closed his eyes as soon as we stopped. His face looked a little pale, and I went on red alert.

"Fang? Are you okay?"

He opened his eyes and nodded. "Yeah. It's no biggie. I'm fine, just a little off."

"Are you sure?" I pressed. He would never tell me if he was hurt, I thought, remembering an incident on the beach with blood gushing from Fang's side.

"Positive, Mom," he said, smiling wanly. I shot him a look and turned away. Sure he was positive. I'll find out what's _really _up with him. Somehow.

**A/N: Bleh. I hate this chapter. Really. I hope you all liked it. You know the drill, review, and then check my profile for links to articles. **


	15. The Deserted Island

**A/N: I really wanted to update on the thirteenth (I started it then!), but my readers, it wasn't meant to be. So here I am, typing this during English on Monday. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR HELPING ME TO TWO HUNDRED!!!!**

So, making the top five on my to-do list:

Figure out what's up with China

Find out what Fang's hiding

Come up with a plan to (somehow) stop _Itex's _plan

Find out if that man from the Carbon Causer institute knows who we are

Figure out this whole global warming thing

It's a lovely life.

I eyed Fang suspiciously, but I let the issue drop for now. I'd be keeping an eye on him. If he even _blinks _wrong, I'll know. He stared back at me, the image of calm. I rolled my eyes at him and turned to the rest of my flock.

"Okay," I said briskly, clapping my hands once. "Obviously, we can't stay in this city. We need to get as far away from here as we can, understand?" Nods from everyone. "So we're not going back to the U.S, either."

"Bummer," said Gazzy, scuffing a toe on the ground.

"Sorry, bud," I told him, and I really, really was. "But that's the way it is." He sighed regretfully, but didn't complain. _That's my trooper, _I thought.

I checked to make sure our area was deserted before shaking out my wings. I rolled my shoulders to lessen the tension in them. Angel followed suit; her pure white wings caught the sunlight and looked exactly like Celeste's. She looked at me with so much trust it nearly made me nervous. She'd follow me to the end of the world. Fang would be the only one to challenge me if I made a bad decision, and maybe Iggy.

I glanced at Fang, and he nodded once, as if to say, 'Let's go, already!' "Alright, guys," I sighed, "up and away." I ran down the alleyway and took off, snapping out my wings quickly. Today, flying did nothing to help my mood. It reminded me that we could never stay in one place.

I accelerated as fast as I could above the clouds before any random people could see me. Nudge followed me closely, in front of Fang. "So where _are _we going, Max?" Nudge asked.

"We're leaving yet _another _country," I said, "since we could be found out or tracked or something. Anywhere that we haven't been is fine with me."

"Can we go back to France?" asked Total from Iggy's arms. "We barely saw anything."

"We've _already been there," _I said patiently. "And we went up in the Eiffel Tower, for Pete's sake."

"That's not the only interesting thing in France, you know!" he said indignantly. "Do you understand French culture at all?"

"Do you understand _no schooling for fourteen years?" _I replied sarcastically. "Honestly, Total."

"Do we have to decide today?" Fang asked. "Couldn't we hide somewhere in Canada until we figure out where to go?"

I frowned. I wasn't sure that I liked that idea. My wing brushed his on the down stroke, and it made it harder to concentrate. "They know that we've been here, though."

"But they'll expect us to leave," he pressed. "They _won't _think that we'd be dumb enough to stay here."

"You said it yourself! It's dumb," I countered.

"Just trust me on this, okay?" he said. I could tell that he really meant it. Against my (ahem) _superior _instincts, I relented. You know, I'm just selfless.

"Fine," I grumbled. "But you better prove me wrong. Make it up to me somehow."

He smiled slowly. "I will. Don't worry."

Surprisingly, my stomach swooped in anticipation.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Island ahoy!" Gazzy yelled. He sounded exactly like a pirate. "Permission to camp, cap'n?"

I grinned at him and played along. "Aye, sailor. Drop anchor!"

"Aye, cap'n!" Gazzy flipped head over heels and zoomed downward. He passed Iggy, who had been flying slightly beneath him, tapped his shoulder, and cried, "Race you down! You're gonna lose!"

"You got a head start!" Iggy yelled back, following the sound of the Gasman's cackles.

"_Hey! _I'm still here," shouted Total. I could see his panicked head poking out from Iggy's backpack as they dove down, and couldn't hold back my laughter.

The rest of us descended like we actually had some _sense. _By the time we landed, Iggy and Gazzy were mock sword fighting on the beach with long branches. Iggy could hear the swish of the stick before it hit him and was able to block everything. Total raced around them, egging them on.

"Avast!" yelled Gazzy. "The enemy pirate may be a challenge!"

"May be?" asked Iggy in mock indignation, swooping in and knocking Gazzy on the ribs. "Try _is _a challenge! You're so dead!" I watched them, unable to wipe the smile off of my own face.

I touched down, still laughing. "Alright, guys, as much as I'm enjoying watching the two of you, keep it down, okay?"

"Gotcha," said Gazzy. "Silent as the grave."

"Not _quite _that quiet," I replied, rolling my eyes.

"So what's the plan?" asked Nudge immediately.

I glanced at Fang. "We'll stay here for a few days until we figure out a place to go, I guess. This was Wonder Boy's idea." Fang glared down at me, and I looked back innocently, saying, _What? I didn't do anything wrong. _

"I'll get firewood," said Angel, raising a small hand.

"I'll go with her," Gazzy volunteered immediately. I could tell he didn't want to leave his sister behind.

"Fang, Iggy, Nudge, scout the area, find out who's around," I ordered. "I'll go with Gazzy and Angel for firewood. Split up!" I would have gone to scout, but I hated leaving the two youngest ones by themselves. My paranoia kicked in. I glanced around us, taking in the forest of evergreens and the lake around us. If there was anyone here, I was going to _kill _Fang for convincing me to stay in the country.

Gathering firewood didn't take long, but it felt like forever to my heightened senses of worry and hearing. Every snap, every breath of wind made me jump until Angel finally asked if I was alright. "Fine," I replied. I surveyed the amount of wood that we had gathered and decided that it was enough. "Let's just go back to camp."

We were back before the other three were. The small part of the island that we had covered I had memorized in my head. If needed, I could retrace it at a moment's notice. I arranged the firewood a safe distance away from both the lake and the trees and waited for Iggy to come back with his lighter. I wasn't in the mood for the whole caveman rubbing two pieces of wood or hitting together two pieces of rock like an idiot.

The sad thing is, I would if I had to.

Fang, Iggy and Nudge returned ten minutes later with their report. "It's completely deserted," said Nudge, as she plopped on the sand next to Angel and propped herself up on her hands, leaning backward. "There were a few fishing boats, but it looked like they'd been there for a long time."

"There's a small wolf pack, too," Fang said. He sat next to me and drew circles in the sand. "We found tracks. It can't be more than five, though."

I nodded. We'd dealt with genetically enhanced wolves; we could deal with the real thing. "Okay. How big is it?"

"Probably about six miles around," said Iggy this time, crouching down to light the fire. In a split second, the flames jumped to life, warming the cool air. It might have been hot in the city, but next to the lake, it was considerably cooler. "It's three miles across. Not far to run."

"Okay," I said. "Great." I slung my bag off of my shoulders and unloaded the little food that I had stored in there. Nudge looked at it hungrily and gulped. Poor kid. She had the worst hunger out of all of us.

Iggy had most of the food (again), and we soon had skinny hamburger patties 'rescued' from a Wendy's sizzling over the fire. Nudge let hers cook for all of thirty seconds before she couldn't take it any more and took a bite. Her eyes closed in ecstasy.

"All this needs is ketchup, fries and a bun," said Total, who let his cook for longer than Nudge's but shorter than the rest of us. "Then it'd be perfect."

I just nodded. The thought was making my mouth water, and I took off my burger as well and took a huge bite. To the under fed bird kid, it was heaven.

I spent the rest of the day talking with Fang. We still hadn't decided where to go from here, and it was beginning to drive me nuts. We hadn't even been here for a full _twenty four hours, _and already I was antsy.

"England?" tried Fang in a flat tone. We'd already been over so many places.

"We were there already," I replied sadly. "We bounced around a lot while you were gone."

"Iraq?"

"Hello, there's a war there right now?"

"Oh, yeah…"

And so on.

When night fell, I was mentally exhausted. The rest of the flock was conveniently asleep except for Fang. I smirked. Fang noticed the smile creeping across my face and was immediately apprehensive.

"Oh, no. What?"

"You still have to make this up to me. Making me stay in the country against my will."

Recognition flared in his eyes. He inched closer. "Do I?"

My breathing quickened. "Yeah. You do."

His eyes never leaving mine, he ran his fingers through my hair. "How should I? Make it up to you, I mean."

I pretended to think. "I think you can come up with something. Be creative. Use that brain of yours."

His hand left my hair and trailed down my back, sending shivers down my spine. I got a strong sense of déjà vu. "I bet I have a pretty good idea," he whispered. His lips brushed against my neck, and – get this – my eyes fluttered closed. It was practically from a movie, and this was my _life._ Pretty freaking cool.

He kissed up my neck and to my cheek. He paused before brushing against my lips. "Like this?"

I could only nod.

He kissed me harder, and then pulled away. It was his turn to smirk. "Is the great Maximum Ride going soft?"

"Shut up," I muttered, glaring at him.

He tilted his head slightly to one side. "I don't think it bothers me much."

"Good," I replied, and kissed him again. I wished that we could just stay in this moment forever – the lake lapping at the beach, the firelight beginning to die…

It was dang near perfect.

This time I pulled away. Time for him to spill some info. "So, what was wrong earlier?"

He stiffened. "Nothing."

I raised one eyebrow. "I'm not stupid, Fang. What's wrong?"

"Honestly, I'm not sure," he relented. "Tell you later."

My eyes narrowed. "Promise?"

He held out a hand. "I'll shake on it." We shook hands and I looked at him appraisingly.

"I won't find out until you want me to, will I?"

He laughed. "Nope."

"Well, I'm going to change that."

**A/N: Fang! Why won't you just tell everyone what's wrong? Oh, right. He doesn't know. And it would wreck the suspense. **


	16. A Neutral Country

**A/N: Happy late turkey day to all Americans! **

"Rise and shine, Max! Come on, wake up!" a playful voice shouted in my ears.

Ugh. I was so _not _in the mood for this right now.

"Go chase some birds," I muttered, sitting up and rubbing my eyes. Angel was sitting in front of me, giggling. The smell of cooking reached my nose, and my stomach growled. "What's that smell?" I asked, twisting my head.

Iggy was by our reignited campfire. "We chased some birds," he smirked, turning over something on a spit. "I'm not sure if Nudge will eat it yet, but knowing her, she probably will if she can't find anything else."

I rolled my eyes and ran my fingers through my hair, trying to rid it of the sand that had lodged itself there while I slept. It was matted, but at the moment I didn't care. Then I realized that Iggy and Angel were the only ones around. "Where is everyone?" I asked, suddenly worried.

"Swimming," Iggy replied. "They were sick of watching you for hours."

"Hours!" I cried, horror struck. How had I been asleep for _hours _longer than them? "How long have I been asleep?"

"Just kidding!" laughed Iggy, holding up his hands in defeat. "They went swimming about five minutes ago, Max, chill."

"You shouldn't say things like that," I muttered, taking off my jacket which I had used for a blanket. "I'm going swimming," I announced to the general area. I turned to Angel, who was drawing in the sand. "Wanna come, Angel?"

"Okay," she said happily. "I was just waiting for you to wake up so I could too."

"Aw, thanks," I said, taking the hand she extended up. "Let's go."

We waded into the lake towards Nudge, Fang, and Gazzy, who were having a furious water fight. As we watched, Fang picked Gazzy up, threw him over his shoulder, and spun him crazily in circles. "I give, I give! Put me down!" Gazzy yelled. I suppressed a snicker. That was the _wrong_ thing to say.

"Put you down? Okay!" said Fang and he dunked Gazzy underneath the surface. Gazzy came back up, spluttering.

"That wasn't fair!" he pouted. "You're practically a foot taller than I am and you're stronger!"

"You can _fly_," Fang said slowly.

Gazzy glared at him and vented his frustration on a giggling Nudge. He sent a huge tidal wave of water towards her. When it hit, she was gone.

"Where did she go?" I called to Fang. He shrugged.

"She must have ducked," he called back.

Then I felt a tug on my ankle. "Ow! What the-!" Then I lost my balance and was tugged under. I panicked, thrashing to see my attacker, but luckily I saw her face before I hit her – it was only Nudge.

I came up, gasping for air. Nudge resurfaced behind me, laughing again. "I got you!" she cried. "You should have seen your face!"

I bit back the lecture about not surprising me like that and smiled instead. "Did you think I wouldn't get you back?" I asked her. "Stupid you…" She had the sense to get scared and dove beneath the water again.

Angel had swum out towards Gazzy already. They began a new game. I couldn't tell what it was, but it was something to do with water monsters and wrestling each other. I wasn't that worried at the moment – even though Gazzy can't breathe underwater like his sister, Angel wasn't dumb enough to drown him.

We continued to fight in the water until Iggy finished breakfast. As expected, Nudge was hesitant to eat ("We killed the _birds? _Why? What'd they do to us?"), but her stomach got the better of her and she ended up eating as much as the rest of us.

"That's the most I've eaten in practically forever," Iggy sighed contentedly. "I'm still hungry, but I have to say, I'm a good cook."

"Excellent," agreed Gazzy, licking his fingers free of grease.

"Suck up," muttered Fang. "What do _you _want from him?"

"I'm bored," declared Nudge. "I wanna go swimming again."

I raised my eyebrows. It never got old! Either we were on the run and she wanted to stay in one spot, and now we were in one spot and she was bored. "Go swimming, then," I said, waving a hand. "Everyone can go swimming." The younger ones cheered and ran into the water again.

Fang started to get up, but I stopped him. "Not so fast. You, mister, are staying with me." He groaned and rolled his eyes at me.

"For _what?_" he asked.

"You're going to help me figure out where to go next. We can't stay here forever."

"Says who?" asked Fang. "I still think that we could." He shook water droplets from his hair onto me like a dog. Guys.

"Don't start that again," I warned. "We agreed that we would stay here for awhile and then we were leaving. Okay? Actually, scratch the okay. That's what we're doing." I dared him with my eyes to contradict me again. I didn't want another fight, but I didn't want to _die _either. I mean, let's see, on the one hand, we have being on the run, fighting off Flyboys, eventually defeating Itex, and _then_ staying in one spot when we're _safe._.

On the other hand, we have staying in one spot now and dying. Hmm, wonder which one I'm gonna choose?

Fang didn't argue anymore, so I let it drop. "Anyway…." I sighed, "Back to the list of places to go."

"Thailand," Fang said tiredly, already bored with guessing.

"I'll think about that one," I said encouragingly, trying to keep the mood light. I think I was failing. "It's a possibility."

"Never mind, no, it's not," Fang said, shooting down his own idea. I looked at him questioningly. "We'd stand out too well. All Itex would have to do would be to say, 'Have you seen a group of kids, mostly Caucasian, one black kid, one with an olive skin tone?' and they'd point them right to us."

"Okay, good point," I said. I scratched at a bug bite on my left arm. "Next country."

"Japan!" said Fang, throwing his hands up in the air. I blinked. He never showed _that_ much frustration. "Can we do this later?"

"Yeah, sure," I said, thrown by his outburst.

"Good," he said, and stalked off towards the water. I watched him go, wondering if I had made him mad. That was the last thing I needed. I sighed and pushed myself off of the ground. I wasn't going to just sit here by myself.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

"I figure that there's enough food here for months," said Iggy happily. "We could stay here forever." Fang glanced at me meaningfully, but I sent him a glance back that said, _Nice try, but I'm not buying it. _I pushed away the guilty feelings.

**It's always a good idea to listen to your friends, **said Jeb from his corner of my mind.

_I thought that you were the one that told me to save the world? _I asked him scathingly. _Everyone needs to quit changing their minds on me. I'm not some science variable, you know! _

**I know that, Max. Oh, do I know how important you are. **

_Been there, heard that. What else is new? _

**You. **

_What? I haven't changed at all. _

Silence. I _hate _it when he does this!

_I will never forgive you if you don't answer me NOW, Jeb. Tell me! _

**You will find out. You haven't changed yet. You will change, though, Max. Count on it. **

Jesus.

"Max? Are you okay?" asked Gazzy.

I blinked and came out of my mental state. "Yeah, I'm fine. Jeb was just telling me some useless info."

"What did he say?" asked Fang.

"Nothing that will help us," I replied. I put my hands behind my head, lay back on the sand, and let the sun dry me off from my swim. It was warmer today, and the sun felt oh-so-good. I could almost fall asleep, it was that dang peaceful.

"Have you and Fang decided where to go yet?" asked Iggy.

"Um, not really," I replied, looking at Fang, who was pale again. I frowned in worry. What was _with _him? One second he was fine, and the next he was pale and…sick! Something way in the back of my head dinged. Why was that slightly familiar?

"Staring?" asked Fang coolly.

I glared at him. "No, I'm thinking."

"Of?"

"What is going on with you!" I said, a little loudly. Nudge looked at me like I'd finally lost it. She does that a lot lately. Each new thing that happens, I get crazier, I guess. It's just a _little _annoying.

"Sweden," said Fang suddenly.

"What?" I asked, stopped in my train of thought.

"Sweden!" Fang shouted. "We can go to Sweden!"

"That's perfect!" I realized. "Since it's a neutral country-"

"-they won't be involved in any war that decides to go on!" Fang finished for me. Any hard feelings he might have had vanished, poof! This was _perfect. _

"When are we leaving?" asked Nudge sadly. Her face was sad, and I could tell that even though she had been bored, she really didn't want to leave.

"We can stay here for awhile, I guess," I replied. She grinned, and her face lit up.

"Thanks, Max! This is going to be great! We can swim and eat a lot, I guess I can live with the birds, and-"

I let her drone on and Jeb decided to chip in.

**Listen to your friends, Max. I told you. **


	17. Escape

For the next week, we stayed on the island. That week definitely made my top three list. I managed to forget for long periods of time that I had a duty to do and had _fun _for once. Angel talked fish into becoming meals every day like we'd talked about, and I was actually full I felt sorry for the fish, but that was before I'd tasted them. Delish.

Through all of that, I'll give you one guess what still worried me.

Do I hear Fang for $100? Sold!

Each day, he seemed to be getting a little worse, until even Nudge had noticed. Now, instead of just being tired and pale, he was coughing and his skin was dulled. His sense of sarcasm, I'm glad to report, was still there. I found that out after I discovered he had – surprise – a fever on top of everything else.

"Come here," I'd said to him, in one of my daily sessions of trying to figure out his mysterious sickness. He came out of the lake reluctantly, the water clinging in beads to his skin. He knew what I was up to.

He sat next to me and I put out a hand to feel his forehead. I frowned. It should have been a little cooler, since he'd just come out of a lake, but he was burning up – even for us. "You're hot," I said in an astonished voice.

He smirked, and I realized my mistake. Too late. Crap. "I know, but it's nice to hear you say it," he replied smugly.

I'd glared at him and taken my hand away. "Ha ha. No more swimming, you're sick and you'll make it worse." It was his turn to glare at me, but I didn't care.

That was how every day went.

Now, one week was up, I was jogging around the island at dawn while it was still dark, and Jeb decided to chip in.

_**You have a job to do, Max. **_

_I know that, _I replied snidely as I jumped over a log like an Olympic hurdler. _It's all you tell me lately. _

_**So get back to it! You haven't been around to hear the news. Everything is going downhill. **_

_Like what? _I asked, interested in spite of myself.

_**Like Canada is planning to declare war on the United States. **_

I tripped in my shock. _What??_

_**You heard me. Canada is fed up with how much of the world's resources that the U.S. is using, and they've decided to correct that problem. **_

_By killing people? _I thought indignantly. _How is that going to bring resources back? _

_**Less people, less resources used. **_

_That's sick. _

_**It's true. **_

_So what do you expect me to do? _I asked him. _March up to Canada's government and tell them, 'I'm just a fourteen year old American girl who thinks that you shouldn't declare war on my country'? _

_**Leave the country, Max. You were going to. Leave now before you are all killed. Itex is coming for you. **_

My body went cold. Itex was coming. They were back on our trail. I knew that close to over a week without any sign of them was too good to be true. We were wanted, and just because we were on an island didn't change that.

_Are they close? _

_**They're coming by helicopter. They're around two hundred miles away. Leave now, Max! **_

I stopped jogging and began to sprint, stretching my legs across the beach. Why did he have to tell me this _now? _Why couldn't he have said so before, when I was already with the flock?

I abandoned running and snapped open my wings. I was airborne instantly, the wind from my sprint filling my wings and lifting me upward. In seconds I was across the island, surging toward the tiny knot of mutants on the beach. Iggy was up on watch, and he turned his head at the sound of my wings.

"Max?" he called toward the sky. "I thought you were running, what's wrong?"

I landed and ran towards him. "Get everyone up!" I called. "We've got to move!"

"Why?" Iggy asked, alarmed, as I ran past him.

"Itex is coming," I replied, already shaking Nudge awake. Fang was up already, awakened by my shouting, and was packing his things and burying our fire beneath the sand to remove the trace of us.

"How do you know?" Fang asked me.

"Jeb," I replied. "And even if he's lying, we needed to move anyway. They're coming by plane and are only around two hundred miles away. We have to go, now, before they find us!"

"Max," said Fang, his eyes widening slightly, "we can't out–fly helicopters. Maybe you can, but the rest of us can't."

"That's why we're getting a head start," I said, as Nudge stumbled groggily towards her bag and Gazzy and Angel woke up. "I know two hundred miles isn't a lot when it comes to planes, but it's better than nothing." I sent him a significant glance that the others missed, and he nodded once to show he understood.

The glance meant – We're probably going to be caught. Don't let the others catch on.

We rose into the air as quickly as possible. We must have looked wild – our hair and clothes were crazy and stuck up in odd places, Iggy was carrying a dog, and the younger one's eyes were wild with fright. None of us wanted to go back to the School. I knew that they wouldn't even bother to experiment. All we'd hear would be six gunshots and that would be the end.

I drove my flock hard to go as far as we could. I felt bad doing that to Fang when I knew he wasn't at his best, but he gave almost no sign of being in any pain or anything. His jaw was clenched and his face pale, but he flew just as fast as the rest of us.

The flight's silence was broken after thirty minutes by a faint roar. Nudge looked at me, her face haunted. She knew what it was. One look at her face told me everything – she knew we stood close to no chance of getting away.

"Do you think they'll have radar?" Iggy whispered to me so that the little guys couldn't hear.

I nodded. "Probably."

"How far does it extend?" he asked me. His eyes bore insistently into mine, and I could sense that he was onto something.

"I don't know," I frowned. "I don't even know what regular range is, let alone Itex's."

"We should fly higher," he said urgently. "Before the radar picks us up at this altitude."

There was no time to think. I made a snap decision, tilting upward as I called, "Pull up!" Iggy followed me, still talking.

"If we can manage to get high enough," he continued as we flew, "then maybe, just maybe, they'll pass beneath us."

Fang flew closer to me. His wings touched mine. "Do you really think that we have a chance?" he murmured.

"Honestly? No," I replied in an undertone. "But it's worth a shot."

"Max?" This time it was Angel, and I muttered swear words under my breath. I knew she heard my thoughts, and it was absolutely the _worst _time for her to hear them. "Are they going to catch us?" she asked me.

"No," I reassured her. "They won't."

We flew still higher as the helicopter drew closer. Soon, we could tell that it was nearly beneath us. My eyes were beginning to water from the cold, but I could still breathe well. I glanced at Fang. There was no change in how he had looked before, so I looked down again.

There was the helicopter, buzzing below us. It was the biggest helicopter I've ever seen in my _life_, and Itex has a lot of them. _They really meant to take us back_, I thought in shock. I had known that, but seeing the helicopter made it all the more real. There must have been tons of Flyboys in that thing. We wouldn't have stood a chance.

The helicopter slowed and my heart sped up. Maybe we weren't high enough. Maybe they had caught us on the radar anyway. An arm snaked out of the driver's window. It had a pair of binoculars in its hand. I blanched, but they pointed them down, not up.

"Iggy," I breathed. "It's working."

"They're still there. I can hear them," he replied, confused.

"They're looking _down,_" I told him. "But we're not in the clear yet."

I hovered and held my breath. I knew that they couldn't hear me, but I was so freaked that they would. Eventually, the helicopter flew forward again and picked up speed. I didn't move until it had gone from sight.

"That was too close," breathed Nudge, letting out the breath she had been holding. She was shaking all over and her eyes were wide. "I really thought that they had us that time." Her brown skin had lost some of its richness, but it was slowly coming back.

_Me too, _I thought.

"So which way to Sweden?" Total quipped.

"You don't need to know," I told him, smiling. "You have the bird kids with internal compasses to help you." We flew towards Sweden cracking small jokes, but everyone was still tense. What if they turned back? What if they found us this time?

No one dared to fly lower.

**A/N: This was supposed to have more to it, but it ended up like this. Hope that you liked it even though it was short! **

**FAQ: What's up with Fang?**

**I'm not going to tell you! It would wreck the suspense!**

…**but review and you get a quote from the next chapter…**


	18. Pastures and Brunettes

**A/N: Thank you for all of the lovely reviews! They make my day, you have no idea. Now, for capitulo numero diez y ocho….. (That's chapter number 18 for all of you non-Spanish speakers). I changed the quote around some, but it's basically the same, for those who got one. **

"Two, four, six, eight! Who do we appreciate? Sweden! Sweden! Yay, Sweden!"

I rubbed my temples in exasperation. Nudge had been singing random tunes for the last half hour. "Nudge, _please _be quiet," I said with exaggerated patience.

"Sorry," she said, grinning sheepishly up at me.

Yes, we'd arrived in Sweden, in case you hadn't guessed that already. We'd landed last night, exhausted from flying extra fast to make sure that Itex wasn't on our tails. Angel hadactually begun to fall asleep in mid air. I decided to crash in some abandoned woods for the night. After bullying Fang into getting some _sleep, _(hello, the guy is _sick?) _I took first watch. Now, we were in town at an insanely bright and perky grocery store, I was on edge because I thought Itex was right around the corner, and, as usual, my flock didn't notice anything and was hyper. Well, except Fang. He doesn't get that hyper.

Fang shivered. "I'm cold," he stated.

"We _are_ standing by freezers," I replied without turning away from the frozen food display. "But you're also sick."

"I'm not sick."

"You have a fever. You're sick." He rolled his eyes at me and stuck his hands deep into his jeans pockets.

"Max, can we get chicken sticks?" Angel asked me, shoving a box of them in my face. It would be her, after all, that used mind control to make the cashier give us the food since we didn't have Swedish _or _American money. Plus, I was freaked about using the Maximum Ride bank card and leaving something that Itex could track us by.

"If you can cook them over a fire, fine," I answered. "But nothing perishable, we're going to be in hiding for awhile."

"Soda?" asked Gazzy, holding up a six pack of Pepsi.

"Water," I said firmly. "Or Gatorade or something."

"What about Propel? It's by Gatorade."

"Okay, fine!" I was getting sick of this. You know the movie _Cheaper by the Dozen? _I can't _imagine _going shopping with twelve kids. Five is bad enough.

"I hate this place," Iggy grumbled. "There are too many echoes and I can't tell where anything is." I looked at him sympathetically, but it was lost on him. I doubt that it would have helped anyway.

Total dumped a box of Beggin' Strips dog treats into the cart and remarked, "I hate dog food, but these things really taste like bacon! The smoky flavor, the tangy goodness…" he trailed off in his memory of the taste of dog treats.

Kill me now.

I dragged my flock away from the ice cream display and to the check out. The great thing about neutral countries was that we could watch the unbiased news. The world news was currently on the T.V. above the register, and I listened in for the report on the war that was supposedly brewing between Canada and the U.S. It came on after a few seconds – I guess it was huge news here.

According to the Swedish newscaster (and her English subtitles) our previous save haven country had broken the ban on nuclear weapons, and rumors of bombs were heard of. This was worse than I had ever thought of. Would Itex stop at _nothing_?

Actually, don't answer that.

After we'd finished our shopping nightmare (well, _my _shopping nightmare), I hustled my flock to a secluded spot in a pasture far away from human eyes. Cows lowed at us from where they were grazing, but I saw no sight of a bull. I hoped one didn't decide to pop over for a visit, because Gazzy conveniently was wearing a shirt with red stripes.

"Okay, pack the food into your backpacks and let's get going!" I ordered, antsy to keep moving.

"_Where _are we going?" Fang asked me, running a hand through his long black hair impatiently.

"I'm thinking," I replied. Which I was, thank you.

Iggy froze. "Max?"

"What?" I asked immediately, my senses going on red alert.

"I don't think we're going _anywhere._" Dread rose up in the pit of my stomach as I whipped around, doing a quick 360.

Itex had gotten smarter. The cows in our harmless, secluded pasture had disappeared, to be replaced by Flyboys. Unfortunately, these were the _new_ models – the ones with hands that converted to guns, and bodies that apparently could transform into cows. Their arms were pointed directly at us. They were _everywhere_, and more were dropping down from the sky, surrounding us in 3D.

We were trapped. We hadn't been missed by the radar last night after all. They'd just followed us here.

Nudge's breathing was coming quicker as she took in our situation. She must have known that there was no way out of this at all. Her right hand curled into a fist, but then dropped back to her side. She'd admitted defeat. Already her normally bright brown eyes were dull.

I pulled Angel behind me instinctively, in case they tried to hurt her to get to me. Fang and I glanced at each other. His look was angry, but resigned. All of us realized what was going on. We were going back to the School – or some place worse.

"We will take you by force if you do not come quietly," said the closest Flyboy, who was directly in front of me. I might have known that there was no hope, but coming quietly was definitely _not _in my vocabulary.

"Like hell we will," growled Fang, reading my mind. "You'll have to kill us before we go quietly with you." I automatically dropped back into a fighting stance, muscles coiled and tense, waiting to fight or fly. I glanced up for a split second. Flyboys still hovered low above us – guess it would be fight.

"As you wish," said the Flyboy in a flat voice, and raised the arm with the gun. My blood ran cold. I couldn't do anything against that, not even kick the gun out of its hand. "Come with us or we'll kill the little boy," he warned. I heard a cry from behind me, and turned my head so fast it hurt. Another of the countless Flyboys held Gazzy tightly, and his gun was aimed at his head. The Gasman's blue eyes were wide with fear, and he was taking in huge gulps of air in an effort to stay in control.

There was no other decision to make.

"We'll come quietly," I said, my shoulders sagging. I closed my eyes briefly. I didn't want to see the dreaded robots swarming all over the place. I didn't want to see my family at gunpoint. I wanted to be somewhere safe where they would never find us – but that seemed to be non existent.

I could hear the distinctive sound of a chopper coming toward us, and my eyes opened again. The Flyboys were in a tighter circle around us now, and Angel was squeezing my hand. I made sure not to think of anything depressing, or she would get upset. Wish I could think of something happy right now. It's kind of hard when you're about to get on the helicopter of death.

The chopper landed, and one of the Flyboys pushed me forward with a gun. "Move, little bird girl," he said, sounding like something out of a bad action move.

"Move out of my _way, _hunk of metal," I retorted. "And please – you call that thing a _gun? _Try water pistol." I patted the gun gingerly, shaking my head in fake exasperation. "They really need to update you. Were you unloved?"

My only response was another shove in the back. "I'm going, I'm going," I muttered. I went first with Angel into the helicopter. The wind blew chunks of hair hard across my face, making it difficult to see. Fang, Iggy, and Gazzy followed behind. Total stayed wisely in Iggy's backpack before the Flyboys could catch sight of him.

We were in the back of the helicopter, obviously, smashed like sardines in a can. We were going back. We _couldn't _go back! We flew all those miles, went to all that trouble….but since when was _our _life _fair?_ I heaved a sigh and took deep breaths, willing myself not to cry. I. Would. Not. Cry. Not in a million years would I show that kind of weakness. I was tough. Tough girl, leader Max, and leader Max did not cry.

Maybe Just Max did. At least, she wanted to.

A Flyboy leaned over me and put a bag over my mouth and nose. I held my breath for as long as I could. I began seeing dark spots dancing across my vision – I was about to black out. Involuntarily, I gasped for the much needed air. As soon as I did, I felt light headed, and everything slowly receded down a dark tunnel that I was falling through.

O0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o00o0o0o

My eyes fluttered open, and then snapped shut again. It was too bright! Where was I?

I forced myself to open my eyes again and took in my surroundings. We were in what looked like a hospital room minus the IVs, television, and bad food. I knew better. We were in Itex's version of a lab.

I tried to sit up and realized that I was strapped down to a table by metal restraints. I craned my neck to see if they were jointed anywhere, but they were smooth titanium. They had obviously expected me to try to break out. My head rolled to the left. There was a bunch of surgical equipment, a speaker, and a camera. On the right, there was Fang. He was still out cold.

Where was everyone else?

I began to panic and my breathing sped up. I looked around the room again. There was the door, there was Fang, there was another table…but there were four missing members of my flock. My brain conjured up images of the worst possible scenarios – dissection tables, horrible tests, executions…I shuddered. Were Fang and I the only ones left?

No. We couldn't be. I'd feel it. Wouldn't I?

I heard a groan from beside me and looked at Fang expectantly. He was stirring, his face contorted as his body attempted to shake off the remains of the drug. His face was as pale as death, even worse than before. Had they done something to him already? Or was it just the drug or his sickness? His eyes opened, closed, and then opened again. They focused on me immediately.

"The School?" he asked me tonelessly.

"I don't…I'm not sure," I answered. "Maybe…"

He turned his head, looking around the room. He looked back at me with the same horror as I had felt. "Where is everyone?"

"They were gone when I woke up," I replied, glancing back toward the camera. He got the hint and moved his lips as little as possible, in case they were watching.

"They could be okay," he said. "They might just be somewhere different." I saw the flicker in his eyes as he said that, and I knew he didn't believe it himself. It was hard to believe that anything would be okay when you were strapped to a table in a hellhole.

I could hear footsteps coming down the hallway and tensed. Fang turned away from me and towards the door expectantly. What fresh torture had they managed to cook up this time?

I could hear something being scanned and a click as the door unlocked. It was pushed open, and a whitecoat strode inside. She – yes, it was a _woman – _looked around twenty four or so, and she had brown hair and blue eyes. The whitecoat surveyed me carefully and came over to my table.

"Are you experiment 000593?" she asked me in an official tone, looking at the clipboard she was holding. The number rang a bell. It was the number I was branded with on Itex's site. I refused to answer her and just stared. I hoped she could tell that I hated her freaking guts.

She sighed, already frustrated. "Max?" she tried again in an exasperated tone.

"I might be," I answered. "What's it to you?"

Her eyes narrowed. "_It is to me _that _I _know where your flock is. _You _will know if you come with me."

"I'm not leaving Fang," I said immediately.

She frowned. "Do you mean 000594?"

"No, I mean Fang," I corrected. Wasn't she supposed to be smart? "Our names are words, not numbers."

She raised one perfectly plucked eyebrow. "They did say that you were intelligent," she said, slightly mockingly. "Fang, or whatever vulgar name you call him, is staying here."

"Then so am I," I said curtly. This lady really pissed me off. And she was a girl. Aren't we supposed to have more common sense or something?

"No, you're not."

"While we're standing here arguing like five year olds," I said loudly, "actually, you're standing, I'm – oh, yeah, _strapped to a table – _you could just do what I say and let Fang come with us. It'd save you so much trouble."

She breathed in deeply through her nose. I tended to have this effect on all of the whitecoats I came across. Who knows why? "Fine, 000594 – _Fang – _can come. But not without precautions."

"Precautions?" I asked. "Like what kind of precautions?"

She grinned. She won the year's Evil Grin Award, that was for sure. "You'll see."

**A/N: NOOOO! They're back at the School! Why must Itex be so cruel?**

**Hey, that rhymed. Anyway, my good and faithful readers, I know that you are once again screaming at me to say what's wrong with Fang. One more chapter to read, and then – YOU WILL KNOW! But in the meantime, please review. Tell me what you liked, what you didn't like, what I can improve on, anything. I reply to all! **


	19. Extermination Plans

**A/N: Happy Holidays! Thanks to ****XII Dragon, alexz1jude, plainlyironic, JFW1415, Bittersweet Romanticide, chalina, LostinLaLaLand0820, katy, and npc.angel.111,**** the (cough) ONLY nine people who reviewed the last chapter out of my 71 alerts. Shame. Shame. Shame. Oh, wait – it's the holidays. That's why. Oh, and to katy: Since my replies didn't get to you (I tried!) I'll reply really quickly now. I know you review every chapter and have absolutely no idea how you always know when I've posted: do you check every day? Kudos to you and thanks so much!**

'Precautions' turned out to be an electric collar around our necks that was impossible to take off. The brunette scientist followed behind Fang and I with an insane-o smile on her face, holding the remote that probably had the button on it to shock us if we did something wrong. We were marched down the hallway of the new facility like prisoners to the gallows.

I guessed that we were somewhere close to Sweden, maybe Finland, because the building's layout and interior didn't look familiar at all. Flyboys patrolled the hallways as guards, and their eyes stared at me like I was a piece of raw meat. I wondered if these were the shape shifting kind, or if they were just robots.

The woman poked me in the back with the butt of the remote. "Turn left here." I glared at her, but I turned. I really hoped she was actually leading us to the Flock and not to some torture chamber.

Which probably sounds far fetched for you, but for us, sadly, it's pretty normal.

We headed down another hallway that had windows into other labs. Unwillingly, I glanced into one, and felt my blood run cold with shock. Inside was an experiment much like the nano-bullets we'd seen in Germany, but they were cleverly disguised as pollen. As I watched, a bird was released into the chamber, and all of the bullets froze. In the next second, the bird was on the floor in shreds.

I turned away, sick. Imagine walking into a field of flowers – all is good, there's just pollen floating above you – and the next thing you know, you're dead.

Fang noticed my face and murmured, "Just don't look. You're fine." The whitecoat poked him in the back as well.

"Shut up," she threatened, "or I'll shock you."

Ah. So they _were _shock collars. At least we knew.

We walked past another window, and I saw a flash of familiar brown. I froze in horror and turned toward the window. "Please, please, tell me that's Nudge's clone," I whispered. Fang looked at me and then at the window. The skin around his jaw tensed, and I knew he was afraid.

Nudge – or, hopefully, her clone - was on an operating table. There were two whitecoats in the room. One was lowering a surgical instrument closer to her head. The other stood by with a clipboard. I started toward the window, mouth open to shout a warning, but was stopped by an enormous shock from the whitecoat. You know that spark you get from static electricity when you touch someone or something? Multiply that by about a thousand, and you get a sharp, white hot jolt that was shot straight through my neck. It hurt like _hell, _and practically threw me to the floor

I scrunched up my shoulders around the collar in a feeble attempt to ward off the pain, but in the next second it was gone. "Don't move," smiled the brunette scientist, "I warned you that you would get shocked. I'll do it again if you move."

I clenched my fists and looked at Fang. He nodded by a fraction, telling me to come back. I frowned slightly, but he just nodded again. He better be right.

I returned to the whitecoat, half expecting another shock, but it didn't come. She smiled again in the half-light. "Very good. Follow me." She set off again, striding through the hallways like she owned the place.

"What was _that _about?" I hissed to Fang, too low for the whitecoat to hear. "Do you _want _Nudge to be killed?"

"It wasn't Nudge," he replied just as quietly. "It was her clone."

"How do you know? You never saw her clone!"

"She was skinnier than Nudge. And they would have needed more than two whitecoats in the room to subdue Nudge, she would have taken them both out. She has spirit, and I'm guessing her clone doesn't. Trust me." I turned to get a last look at whichever Nudge it was, not entirely convinced, but I couldn't see it anymore.

We stopped at a door a few minutes later. The whitecoat held open her eye, which was scanned, and then placed her right hand on a scan pad to the right of the door. This too was scanned. Next, she took a cotton ball and swiped her arm. Noticing us watching her every move, she explained cockily, "DNA scan. You can't fool that." She placed the cotton ball on a tray, which beeped. The door finally unlocked and whooshed open.

Wow.

We went inside, and I had to restrain myself from shoving aside the woman and getting to my flock. The only thing stopping me was that I didn't know how high the shock could go. The room looked exactly like ours, but with more beds. Each bed was occupied by a Flock member. Each of them was still knocked out. Nudge was farthest away, and I breathed a silent sigh of relief. Her crazy hair was splayed across the pillow, but she didn't look like she'd been moved. There was another whitecoat inside of the room.

I summed up the situation. One door locked from the outside, two whitecoats, and a camera. The camera wasn't too high and my wings weren't tied, I could take out the camera while Fang started on the whitecoats. Hopefully he'd get to the woman before she got the chance to shock me…

The woman's speech brought me back to earth. "Here lie the 'powerful' experiments that have thwarted Itex for so long. What's happened to you now? Four of you are knocked out and the other two are helpless. You are done running."

I could hear stirring from two beds away and whipped my head around. Iggy was starting to wake up. Unlike the ones that we had had, there were no metal restraints holding him to the bed, and he sat up, opening his eyes even though there was nothing for him to see. "Hello?" he asked.

"Iggy," I breathed.

He turned toward me. "Max! You're okay!"

"Quiet, mutant," hissed the brunette. "You're here to die, not to talk." I'd already guessed that, but hearing it sped up my heart rate until I was almost sure that she could hear it even with human hearing. Iggy stiffened as he listened to his surroundings, and I figured he could tell by the breathing that there were whitecoats in the room as well as the flock.

We stood in silence for awhile. I moved subtly closer to Fang and brushed against his arm. I looked at him, to the remote and then back to him. He glanced back at me to show he understood. As soon as the younger three were awake, we'd put our plan into action.

Soon, they began to stir, and I looked expectantly at Nudge, the oldest out of them. As soon as she came to, she started talking, which reassured me that it was really the clone that we had seen and that this was the real Nudge. "Max?" she said, looking at me. "Where are we? What's going on? Where's Total?" I'd completely forgotten Total in my worry over the Flock, and I sighed inwardly as I realized Angel wouldn't leave without him.

"Quiet!" ordered the whitecoat again as Gazzy and Angel woke up. Their wide blue eyes looked at me expectantly. They were all counting on me to save them, to get them out of this. It was up to me.

"You are here to be exterminated," began the brunette whitecoat. "The agents of Itex in Germany failed to do their duty, and as this is the closest facility, you were brought here." A smug look crossed her face as she added, "This is also the _best _facility."

She began pacing in front of us, and I groaned out loud without thinking. "Are you going to start in on a monolog? We've heard it _so _many times, please just kill us and spare us the boredom."

She glared at me, but no shock came. She continued, "A team of highly trained scientists will inject a powerful serum into your veins. It will knock you out first, but it will eventually deprive your cells of oxygen, and you will die."

"So basically, you're poisoning us."

"You could call it that," she shrugged. "I prefer the term 'retire'."

"Whatever," I spat. I stepped lightly on Fang's foot.

"Ready," he whispered so low that even I could hardly hear him.

"So," I wondered out loud, tensing for the jump towards the camera, "are we going to die…NOW!" I jumped up, spreading my wings to keep me airborne. I broke the camera with one swift roundhouse as Fang punched the brunette square in the face and knocked the remote out of her hands. Blood gushed from her broken nose, and she collapsed to the floor. Fang tossed the remote to Nudge, who swung her feet off the table and jumped to the floor.

"Figure out how to get these things off us!" he ordered.

I folded my wings and dropped to the ground in front of the other whitecoat, who just looked shocked. "Send this message to the rest of you," I growled, and delivered a hard uppercut into his ribs. I heard one crack, and he sank to the floor.

Nudge's thin-fingered hand was hovering over the buttons on the remote. Her face was creased with worry. She paused over one button. I realized it was the same button used to shock us and cried, "Not _that _button! Don't press that!"

"Got it!" she said back.

"Work fast," said Fang to Nudge as he lifted Angel off of the table and set her on the ground. "Someone's going to be coming down here." She nodded, and pressed a button. The collars released us and fell to the floor.

"Yes!" She said triumphantly.

"Let's go!" I cried, opening the door and practically shoving the flock outside. We sprinted down the hallway, which was miraculously still free of whitecoats. "Right! Turn right!" I ordered, and we skidded around a turn.

"Total!" cried Angel unexpectedly. "Wait!" I stopped, as she was standing still in front of a door. I could tell she was influencing whoever was inside, because her face was screwed up in concentration. The door was opened by a very confused whitecoat, and Total sprinted out on his short legs.

"Okay, great, let's _go!"_ I shouted. I could see a door up ahead, and I guessed that it was the exit. Before we could reach it, alarms started sounding, and Flyboys began pouring out of doors.

A computerized female voice began to repeat, "Security breach. All robots to the first floor. Security breach. All robots to the first floor."

We ran even faster, if that was possible, straining to get to the door before the Flyboys could hold us back. Fang reached it first and tried the handle. "It's locked!" he shouted in frustration.

"Move!" I shouted back, and did a flying side kick into the door. Part of it crunched beneath my foot, and though it wasn't broken down, the locks were damaged. "Push it open!" I panted to Fang. "Move, move, move!"

He slammed into it with his shoulder, and it swung open, careening crazily on its hinges. We ran out as the Flyboys drained into our hallway behind us.

The exit opened into a forest so dense that there was no way that I could spread my wings to fly. We would have to run on foot. Fang took off first through the woods, then Gazzy, Iggy, Nudge, Angel, and finally me. We wove through the trees at top speed, putting as much distance between us and the Itex building as possible.

I heard a sharp sound behind me and groaned. Machine gun fire rippled through the air, but luckily missed its targets. "Go faster!" I yelled to Fang. "They're right on top of us!"

Another round of fire came through, but we weren't as lucky. The bullets barely missed, and I turned to face our pursuers. Twenty Flyboys or so were behind us, their gun arms pointed at us. They all had expressions of malice on their faces.

So macho.

They fired again, and this time a bullet grazed my arm. I hissed and looked down. A shallow groove had been cut out of my left forearm, but it had missed my wing, thankfully. Blood began streaming out of it, and I clamped a hand to it to try and staunch the bleeding.

The forest became denser as we went deeper, and the Flyboys had to slow down to avoid hitting the trees with their bulk, while we skinny bird kids flitted through the trees. I was gasping for breath. We might be fit and made for work, but sprinting for miles takes it out of the best of us. Yeah, yeah, there are marathon runners, but they don't sprint three minute miles, do they?

We lost the Flyboys, but didn't stop until Iggy yelled, "WAIT!"

I skidded to a stop and started towards him, but he cried, "No! _Don't move!" _

I froze mid step. "What? What is it?"

He stood as still as stone. "Motion sensors. I'd bet anything they'll set off a bomb."

And he would know. I didn't ask how he knew about the sensors.

_Crap, _I suddenly realized, _even if we don't move, something else might. _

"Can we move backward?" Fang asked Iggy. Even his lips barely moved.

"Uh-uh," whispered Iggy. "Trap."

Angel's eyes widened. "Max."

"What?" I was so _not _in the mood for talking right now.

"People! There are people coming this way!" she cried. I could hear them now, yakking about a camping trip and tramping through the trees, and I'm sure she could hear their thoughts.

My muscles were starting to hurt from standing still in this position for so long, and now our situation was worse. I looked at Fang without turning my head. "No," he said immediately, knowing what I was thinking. "Don't."

"But I can't – if they set off the sensors – we'll all die!"

His jaw clenched. "Call out if you have to. But _do not move." _

I sighed in frustration. There was nothing more I _could _do. "HEY!" I shouted. "GO BACK! YOU'LL GET HURT!"

"Is that a chick?" asked a male voice. _Great. _Teenage guys on top of all this.

"Angel!" I cried. "Mind control, _please!" _

"What's going on?" asked the other human.

Angel had a look of concentration on her face. "It won't work as well!" she said desperately. "They get _ideas _of going back, and I'm _so close, _but-"

"It's okay," I interrupted. "Keep trying."

"Plan B?" asked Gazzy, deathly pale.

"Yeah," I said, but there was none.

_Trap. _It's an ugly word.

Iggy drew in a shuddering breath. "Oh, no."

"What?" I asked, dreading the answer.

"I heard…like a…click. A _metallic _click." He said, a frown forming. Recognition dawned across his face, along with horror. "A gun. It's on the left."

"You must die," came a sudden, flat voice. Flyboy.

"DUCK!" I shouted, throwing my arms over the nearest flock members and pushing them down with all of my strength. I tucked my head in and hoped that death would come quickly – our movements would set off the bomb, and the Flyboy was going to shoot at us.

The Flyboy opened fire at the same time I heard a loud explosion. I was dimly aware of a hand on the small of my back and braced myself for a bullet or the bomb, but –

I felt nothing.

It seriously freaked me out. No wind, no sound…it was like the tank all over again, but ten times worse. I don't think you get how literally I mean _nothing. _

Was I dead?


	20. Antarctica

I was cold. Very, very, extremely cold.

"Max! _Max!" _ Something in my brain stirred and wondered who was calling me. They should leave me alone, I just wanted to go back to sleep, floating in the black fog that my thoughts were, floating, floating…

"Max! Come on, wake up! Stay with me!" Was that Iggy? I _thought _so…my senses started forming again, and I realized I'd never heard Iggy sound so worried. I tried talking to let him know that I was alive, but all that came out was a quiet moan.

"Max?" This time he was questioning. I tried opening my eyes. I could crack them about a millimeter. Yep, that was it.

His fingers touched my eyes so that he could be sure I was awakening. "Max! You're okay!"

"Will be," I managed to grind out. I realized I couldn't feel my hands, and started panicking. "Where are my hands? I can't feel my hands!" My eyes forced themselves open, and I sat up. I was distracted by where we were, and – for once – was speechless.

Everywhere was covered in snow, and more was falling. All I could see was white – the sky, the land – everything. There were mountains on glaciers or something on the horizon, and if I wasn't panicking, I would have thought that it was gorgeous.

I glanced down at my hands. They were completely white and drained of blood. My heart stopped for a fraction of a second. What if I had frostbite? What if I lost my hands? I'd die! Then I distantly remembered Jeb saying that in times of extreme cold, blood drains from your hands and feet and warms the center of your body, to keep your inner organs from freezing, and I felt a little better.

A _little_.

I looked at Iggy, bewildered. "Where the heck are we? Where is everyone? Why aren't we dead? What happened to the bomb?" I tried standing, but I couldn't feel my feet either, and I lost my balance for a moment and swayed in the snow.

"I don't know where we are," replied Iggy. His face was much paler than normal. "I've no idea how we got here, and no one's hurt. Well, except…" He trailed off, and my heart sped up instead of stopping dead.

I looked around again. The younger three of the flock were huddled together in a tight knot, shivering. It was then I noticed who was missing. Fang. Oh, god. He can't be dead, he can't be dead –

"I don't know what to do," Iggy continued, pleading for help. "He's knocked out, and he's not breathing well, and he was already sick, and…" Wait a minute. Something just finally clicked for me. I didn't hear the rest of Iggy's sentence, because I was running for Fang.

I finally found him sprawled on the ground, wrapped in Iggy's other shirt for the little extra warmth. His eyes were closed, his breathing was shallow, and he was shaking. He looked horrible, and in these conditions there was no way he would last long. My throat closed with unshed tears. God. I was turning into such a crybaby. I had to stay strong. For everyone, and especially for Fang.

Iggy caught up to me. "I didn't want to move him, I was afraid that I'd make it worse."

"Iggy. Wait." I closed my eyes, thinking. I could feel snowflakes falling on my eyelids. I'd been feeling under the weather for awhile too, back at Anne's. I hadn't been pale all the time, but neither had he. I'd gotten hot flashes. He'd gotten a fever. I'd gotten moody, he gotten….more silent? What if – what if he really _wasn't _sick? I had been feeling bad right…before…

My super speed. Oh, my god.

My eyes snapped open. I blinked away the snow that fell into my eyes rapidly and said quickly in a low tone, "Iggy, do you remember when I first got my super speed?"

He frowned and wrapped his arms tightly around him. We weren't dressed to be out here at _all. _We could freeze to death before too long. "Yeah, I remember," he replied after awhile. "Why?"

"Doesn't it seem like the thing Fang has?" I pressed on.

His eyes widened. "What are you saying? Do you think that Fang has a new power?"

"That's _exactly _what I think," I replied, nodding. "And I think he brought us here."

"Are you serious?"

"Dead serious."

"Max," he said, lowering his voice. "I'm really, really scared. We are going to freeze to death out here. We don't have nearly enough clothes to keep us warm; it's way below zero! Plus, Fang is hurt, and apparently he's the only way to get us out of this mess."

I took him by the shoulders. He looked at me, somehow looking me right in the eyes. He was worried and scared, and this shouldn't have happened to him. "Iggy, everything is going to be fine," I reassured him. "We are not going to die here. Fang is going to be fine. Okay?" He nodded, but he looked doubtful.

"I've got to go to the rest of the flock," I muttered. "I'll be right back." I glanced at Fang one last time and then stumbled across the snow to the rest of the flock. They were still huddled in their circle, and Angel was shivering violently. I was glad to see that they had already gotten their coats – light as they were – out of their bags, and were clutching them tightly around them.

Those are my troopers. I bet you won't find anyone else like them _anywhere. _

"M – M- Max," Nudge stuttered through chattering teeth. "W- Where are w-we?"

"I'm not entirely sure," I admitted, beginning to shake just like Angel from the cold. "But I'm going to get us someplace safe. Promise." I lifted Angel from the snow and pressed her to me, trying to warm her somewhat. Her lips were blue, and her eyes were freaked out.

_You're fine, _I told her mentally, _we're all going to be fine. Don't worry. _

_Are you sure? _She replied.

I blinked back tears again. How was it that she couldn't trust what I said anymore? This was insane. It was too much. _I'm positive, baby. Just wait and see. I promise. I promise. _It was like a mantra inside my head. I was going to get everyone out of this. And Fang. I couldn't do it without him.

The only problem was I had no idea how I was going to get us out of this place.

I set Angel back down, and she snuggled next to Gazzy, who had ice flecks in his hair. He put his arms around her, and Nudge covered them both. She caught my eye and I smiled the best I could. I was so proud of her. She'd grown up. She was still a chatterbox, and she was still an eleven year old girl in some ways, but she was maturing. Wow.

I went the few yards back over to Fang. A sudden gust of wind blew sharp snow and ice across my face. One piece cut me, and it stung. I squinted to see if Iggy was still there – and he was, of course. "He hasn't changed at all," he informed me. "Max, are you sure he'll be okay?"

_**He'll be fine. **_I nodded at Iggy and held up a finger.

Jeb.

_Are you sure? He looks so bad and I don't know what's going on. How are we going to get out of here? _

_**He'll most likely wake up in a few hours. **_

_Hours? _I mentally yelped. _What do you mean, hours? He could freeze in hours! _

_**Turn around, Max.**_

Grudgingly, I turned. Behind me was a dark heap of heavy coats, gloves, hats, basically everything wintery. "How did those get here?" I whispered. "They weren't there before, were they?"

"What?" asked Iggy. "What's there?"

"Winter clothes," I said, starting to smile. "We'll be okay!" Then the smile slid off of my face faster than Nudge can eat a Snickers bar. "It might be a trap."

_**It's not a trap, Max, trust me. I know. **_

_How? _I asked acidly. _I don't see you standing here freezing your butt off. I mean that literally, in case you haven't noticed!_

_**Maximum, will you ever learn to trust me?**_

_No. _

_**Fine. Freeze, then. **_

Okay, he had me there.

"Angel, Nudge, Gazzy! Come here!" I shouted, standing. "Look! There are coats, gloves, everything! Put them on, now." Nudge's eyes lit up, and she immediately pulled on a coat that was, freakily, just her size. She zipped it hurriedly and sighed.

"That's already better," she said. "I'm not so cold." I smiled as I slid a coat on myself. The goose bumps on my arms slowly went away, and I wasn't shaking as violently. My body was warming. Thank _God_. I was afraid I was going to die here in this barren wilderness, alone and unloved…alright, so I'm being dramatic.

I grabbed a jacket for Fang and gently eased him into it. I had to lift his chest slightly to get it on, but I managed. I zipped it up all the way and slid mittens onto his hands. Maybe now he would have a better chance of making it through. We all would.

But how the heck did those clothes get there? It's like they were expecting us!

…Which, I reminded myself, they probably were.

_**So, have you figured out Fang's power?**_

_Yeah, pretty easily. Do not breathe a WORD of it to Itex or I will never speak to you again. Ever. If I meet you in an alley and you're being mugged, I'm going to leave you there. I swear. _

_**You wouldn't do that, Max. It's not in your nature.**_

_I think I know pretty well what I would do. And stop telling me what's 'in my nature' or not! It's so annoying! _

_**Maximum…**_

_Promise you won't. Now. _

_**I promise. **_

_Swear on your life. _I didn't trust him with this. Hmm, wonder why?

_**I swear. On my life. **_

I blinked. Wow. He actually did it. I expected another annoying silence that left me wondering what the hell was going on.

I knelt next to Fang again and watched his face carefully. He didn't seem to be getting any paler, but there wasn't any color coming back to his cheeks, either. At least the shaking had stopped.

_**He's used up too much energy bringing you all here, **_Jeb said, and he actually sounded a little worried. Not too comforting. _**He lost control, and here you are. **_

_How come I don't use that much energy when I'm flying? Or when Nudge is using her sensing thing? Or anyone else?_

_**They're not using their powers on other people. Fang used his power to bring all of you to one spot, and it used up five times the effort. It wasn't good. He didn't have enough control to try to do that. **_

_I don't think he knew what he was doing, _I replied. _He said he didn't know what was going on. _

_**All the same…**_

_Angel uses her powers on other people, _I realized suddenly. _Why isn't she so tired?_

_**Her powers are mental, not physical, **_he replied. _**It doesn't take nearly as much effort. If he had tried to take one more person, it could have killed him. **_

_What about Total? Doesn't he count?_

There was a long silence, and I thought that he had gone. But then he answered, _**Total doesn't have as much mass as the rest of you.**_

_Oh. _I let that be the end of the conversation for awhile.

I inhaled deeply and blew out a breath through my mouth. "What are we going to do with you, Fang?" I said quietly. "What are we going to do at all?"

"It should be a few hours before he wakes up," I said to Iggy. He looked slightly relieved, and left to sit with the others.

_In the meantime, Jeb, where are we?_

_**Where are you? You're in Antarctica, of course. **_


	21. Sleeping Beauty

**A/N: Okay, so I'm thinking this will be around 50-60 chapters, but that could change…Thanks to all reviewers, whether you were last minute or if you reviewed the same **_**hour **_**that the chapter was posted. Apologies for the delay, I wrote this at school and couldn't find the disk to save it on so I could post it at home. **

I won't bore you with the details, but two hours later, I was still sitting in the snow next to a passed out Fang and the _Jeopardy! _theme song was running through my head. Jeb had said hours – how _many _hours? I was going to die of suspense here, and everybody _else's _worries were definitely not helping me right now.

Don't get me wrong. I'd wait here for days if I had to. I'm not some cold-hearted person that leaves their friends to die. But with little to no scenery, nothing to say to anyone that was _conscious, _jumping at every little noise, and random tips from Jeb in my head, let's just say I was a little ticked right now. And worried. And…oh, you get the point. I was going to go crazy. My heart felt like it was being gripped by a cold hand and was still beating twice as fast as normal.

It was bad enough when we were in separate countries. I wouldn't be able to _live _if Fang was dead, too.

_**A few more minutes now. **_

I jumped in surprise. _Seriously? He's going to wake up soon? How do you know? _

Silence. One second, he was a chatterbox, the next, when I _really _want to know something, he shuts up. He was as moody as a teenager!

And yes, I do realize that I _am _a teenager, thanks.

How am I related to him? I swear, the only thing I got from him is skin tone and hair color. I hope.

I sighed. I wondered why we were _here, _of all places. I mean, sure, Fang had lost control, but Antarctica was thousands of miles away from where we'd been. If he had lost control, wouldn't he have just plopped us down to wherever we were above in the transport warp-thingy then? Like, someplace other than _here? _

_Maybe Jeb had a hand in this and that's why he's not answering, _I thought, my eyes narrowing at the thought. _I mean, there is the whole 'winter clothes' incident. Those definitely _weren't _there on accident. Who the heck left those there? Or maybe this has something to do with that whole global warming thing…_I hadn't thought about that in awhile. I couldn't fathom why _here _of all places, if that was why. It's called global _warming, _not global freeze-off-mutant-butts.

I looked up at the rest of my flock. They looked like fat, burned marshmallows all wrapped up in their gear. Total was wrapped in Angel's arms for warmth, and I could faintly hear him grumbling about the cold and how insensitive it was not to leave winter clothes for _him_ while whoever it was left stuff for everyone else. I couldn't help but smile. Wacky dog. Honestly, he's got an opinion for _everything. _He could write that section of the newspaper. If someone typed it for him, that is.

Fang moved next to me, and I snapped to attention pronto. His eyelids fluttered, and I could tell that he was trying to wake up. I looked up at Iggy again. He was throwing a snowball at Gazzy not too far away from where I sat. "Ig! Quit that and get over here!" I shout-whispered, not sure how loud we should be around Fang. How many times have you been around a reviving bird kid after he just took you thousands of miles? Yeah, I wasn't sure of that particular protocol either.

Iggy ran over and threw himself down in the snow. "Man, it's great here! After you get used to the cold...what did you want? Is Fang okay?"

"He's waking up," I said excitedly. "I think he'll be fine."

Iggy smirked. "Oh, I almost forgot – you want him back more than the rest of us, don't you?"

"What are you talking about?" I asked warningly, though I figured I had a pretty good idea.

"I mean…you want your _lover boy," _he grinned, making a kissy face at me.

"Shut up, Iggy. I mean it."

"What? You don't love Fangy-poo anymore?"

"Don't _ever_ call me that again."

I jumped and looked down. Fang's eyes were open, and even though he looked pretty bleary and his eyes were slightly unfocused, he managed to glare at Iggy. "Seriously. _Fangy-poo?" _ He said in a hoarse voice.

Iggy grinned. "So you guys don't have nicknames yet?"

Fang looked at me, still lying flat on his back. "Please hit him for me. I don't think I can move yet." Iggy pushed himself up and ran away towards the flock before I could lift a finger. I snorted and then looked down at Fang again.

"How do you feel?" I asked anxiously. "Are you okay?"

"No," he groaned, "but I'll be fine. Where are we?" He struggled to lift his head, blinking as snow fell into his eyes. "How come we didn't die?"

I blinked. He didn't know? "You mean you don't realize what happened?"

He shook his head. "The last thing I remember is throwing a hand out as I dropped down to avoid the gunshot, and then everything's a blank."

"Well," I began hesitantly, but I was interrupted by a high pitched squeal of, "_Fang!" _ Nudge had sprinted over to where we were sitting and had nearly thrown herself on him, but she held back at the last minute. Thank _god, _she would have knocked Fang out all over again.

Nudge was followed by the rest of the Flock, who were elated to see that Fang was awake. "I thought you were dead!" Gazzy cried.

"There was a gun blast, and then there was the bomb, and then all of a sudden, _ka-pow! _Everything goes black and we ended up here! But you and Max were knocked out so we were really worried and really, _really _cold cause we didn't have the right clothes, but now you're awake and everything'll be fine!" Three guesses who that was.

Angel looked at Fang. "Why are you so confused?" she asked innocently.

"Angel, were you going through Fang's mind?" I asked warningly.

"No. He's just shouting and I can't help but hear." I raised my eyebrows at Fang. His eyes narrowed slightly.

"He just woke up, sweetie," I told her. "Of course he's confused. But he'll be fine if he's not deaf in the next ten seconds." I looked pointedly at Nudge. "I don't think he needs too much talking, right?" She grinned sheepishly.

Iggy read between the lines for once and lured the younger ones away by throwing a snowball at Gazzy, who shouted, "HEY!" and ran after him to get his revenge. Nudge and Angel followed with a last glance at Fang, laughing and egging the boys on. Fang lifted his arms with what looked like a huge effort and propped himself up on his hands. He looked down at the gloves in surprise, though it didn't show on his face. "What the hell happened?" he asked me. "Tell."

"You have a new power," I said. "Didn't you know? It's why you've been so sick."

"I _told _you I didn't know," he said, rolling his eyes. Then what I said hit him like an Eraser punch to the gut. "Wait a minute. Are you saying that _I _brought you guys here?"

"Uh…yeah." I braced myself for his reaction. There was something else I didn't want to say as well: _You have to get us _back.

He was silent for a bit, staring off into the snow. "Where is here? And why was I knocked out?"

"Jeb said that you used too much energy bringing us here," I said. "You almost died."

Something flashed behind his eyes. "Really?"

"Would I lie to you about that?"

"No," he said. "I guess not." He looked down at his hands again. "How did we get the gloves? And the coats?"

"No idea," I admitted. "They were just there, like they were waiting for us."

"And you put them on?" I could hear the scorn behind his words, and my eyes narrowed. I knew what I was doing. I could handle this. And, need I mention, _I _woke up and took care of everyone while _he _was knocked out.

Okay. That was mean.

"Did _you _want to freeze?" I asked. "Because you would have if I hadn't put that coat on you."

That shut him up.

"Listen, I was thinking," I continued. "Jeb said that you lost control, and that was why we ended up here. But I don't think everything adds up in that. If you had lost control, wouldn't we have just fallen over wherever we were? We wouldn't have kept on going for thousands of miles."

"I don't know," Fang said. He suppressed a cough and went on, "I mean it might not be like flying. We could be in some other dimension or something."

I tried imagining that. It made my brain hurt with possibilities. Ugh, never mind.

"But still," I started again. "There's the whole clothing thing. If you had really lost control, those wouldn't be here. What are the chances that some researchers said, 'Yeah, So-and-So, let's take off all of our winter gear, leave it in this pile, and go off and freeze to death'?"

"Okay," he said. "So you're saying that Jeb is lying."

I nodded. "I still don't trust him. If he says that this is another test, I'm going to strangle him."

"So that's what you think this is," Fang said. "A test."

"Exactly."

Fang started to try and stand, but I pushed him back down with one hand. "Don't even think about it," I reprimanded. "You can't just get up that fast!"

"Watch me," he said, still trying to get up. I raised an eyebrow at him.

"If I can hold you down with _one hand_, you're not ready to get up," I told him. "Not nearly."

Fang sent me one of those _you think you're so great _looks. I sent him one back that said, _what are _you _going to do about it? _

He seemed to notice something, and his expression changed a bit. "What did you do to your arm?" I looked down at my left arm where his gaze was, completely surprised. I had forgotten that the bullet had grazed me. Apparently the snow had helped to stop the bleeding, because the blood was clotted.

"Oh. That," I said dumbly. "I forgot about that."

"You forgot that you were _shot_," he repeated slowly.

I could feel my face heating up. "It didn't hurt anymore. Besides, it's shallow. It'll heal by itself."

He shook his head, a tiny smirk creeping across his face. "Only you would forget that, Max." I laughed, and it was almost like nothing had happened. Like we hadn't been freezing to death just a few hours ago.

Of course, being me, I had to bring up a touchy subject again.

"So what's all this about 'another dimension'?" I asked him.

"Well, we wouldn't be just flying through the air. That's not teleportation, that's what we all can do."

"But Fang," I said slowly, "do you realize what that could mean? There _are _other…dimensions, I guess – that exist. _You _control one of them. That's just….insane!" It was no wonder that he almost died bringing us here. His power was bigger than all of ours combined.

Fang didn't speak for awhile. Finally, he said, "Max, I don't like this at all."

I stayed silent. He always talked more if he wasn't pushed. "I don't know if I want to use this power," he continued. "Messing around with that sort of stuff, dimensions and everything…I just don't think it's right. Or safe. Who knows how long it'll take for Itex to figure out this power? We only just escaped being killed again."

I didn't know what to say to that for awhile. While I was distracted, Fang pushed himself up and stood. His face went pale, but he gritted his teeth and stayed standing. "Plus," he continued, looking at me, "I don't want to die, Max. You heard Jeb. If I use up too much energy, I could freaking _die._" His expression was closed off, but for a split second I could see the emotions that were longing to get out. Why doesn't he just show what he feels? No one is going to persecute him or anything.

"Max," he repeated, "I don't want to die. Don't let me die."

I stood as well. Without bothering to brush off the snow that clung to my coat, I hugged him tightly. The bulky coats made it difficult, but I managed. His chin was almost able to rest on top of my head. After a second, he hugged me back. "I won't. I promise," I told him. "You'll be fine. I'm the leader, remember?"

_But how are we going to get back? _

**A/N: REVIEW, or I shall….I shall….do something to someone whose name starts with F and ends with Nick. And that is a fact. I don't make idle threats. (cue the evil laughter) **


	22. Google Earth

I didn't want to bring up the topic of getting out of Antarctica for awhile, so I let Fang go with the rest of the flock. While Nudge, Angel and Gazzy built a snowman, I was thinking about how we were going to get out of here. I wondered what polar bear tasted like. Hey, if we could eat desert rat…

Oh, jeezum. Polar bears. One could just happen to lumber by here and we wouldn't stand a chance against those jaws and teeth.

We definitely needed out. How was I going to convince Fang? Maybe if he took us one by one, it would work. Then he wouldn't be using as much effort each time. I mean, Itex was bound to come looking for us eventually. How long would it take to convince him that we needed to get out of here?

_He doesn't even know how to control his power, _said a voice in my head that was, annoyingly, myself. _He did it on accident. You'll never get back. _

It's really discouraging when even your own thoughts don't think that you'll live.

I sighed and traced a random pattern in the snow with a gloved finger. I needed to _do _something. Sitting here and doing nothing was going to drive me absolutely crazy. Not crazy as in impatient crazy, we're talking insane asylum, seeing-things-that-aren't-there crazy.

I extended my arm out farther to draw and felt a twinge of pain. I winced. I had forgotten about that bullet wound. Okay, there was that too. Look at all this stuff adding up against me! If I was normal, I'd say it was a coincidence, but I knew better. Way better.

I bounced my knee up and down, up and down. I had to _do_ something. I was going nuts. Itex could be right around the corner and here we were building _snowmen! _

I had to know what was around here. I stood and brushed snow off of my coat. "Hey, Fang!" I yelled in his direction. "C'mere! I want to talk to you."

He looked up with a questioning look on his face. I gestured for him to come closer. He did so, attempting to jog through the deep snow. It didn't go well – his feet kept getting stuck. I stifled a snicker and met him halfway. "I think that we should figure out if there's anyone here," I told him. "You know, gather up the flock and get a feel for the place."

He shook his head. "Don't think so."

I raised one eyebrow. "Really?" Well, that was pretty much too bad, because that's what we were going to do anyway.

"We might not make it back to this spot. I don't know if that's a good idea."

I waved my hand at the landscape – ice, snow, and more ice. "I don't see anything to come back to."

"We could get lost. Go in circles. _Freeze." _

"We're not freezing, exercise warms you up, we're already lost, and who cares if we go in circles?" I replied. "Come on, let's _go _already. The longer we stay here, the better chance there is of Itex following us and bringing us _back_ to the School."

"And the farther away we go, the better chance there is of us running _into _Itex. It's not a good idea," Fang said. I rolled my eyes.

"So, either way, we're running into Itex. I, for one, am not going to sit here and _wait _for them to find us. Kay?" I set off toward the flock. "Hey, guys! Come 'ere!" I yelled in their direction.

Nudge was the first one to reach me. Her cheeks were flushed and her hair was dripping with melted snow. "What are we doing?" she asked breathlessly. "Are we going back to America or what?"

"Not yet," I said with a meaningful glance at Fang. He stared impassively back, his arms crossed. "We're just going to take a little look around."

"Where are we going?" asked Angel, slipping her hand in mine and holding Total closer to her.

"Nowhere really," I said. "But we can't just stay here. We're going to keep moving, just like normal."

"Are you _sure _there were no clothes for me?" Total asked me.

"Yeah, I'm sure. Sorry, Total. C'mon, let's go." I wasn't planning on coming back to this spot, so I had the kids gather whatever stuff they had managed to keep and off we were.

On the road again…or should I say on the ice?

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"Do we have any food?" asked Gazzy.

"Um…that would be a _no,_" I replied guiltily. "Itex took our bags." All the more reason to go back to America.

"So we lost everything?" Iggy asked glumly, but it was more of a statement than a question.

"The laptop too," said Fang. "That _sucks_."

"Oh! Um, actually Fang," Nudge began guiltily. She stopped and rummaged in the inside of her coat. Then she produced a long, thin black object. I frowned. Was that what I thought it was?

"What are you doing with my laptop?" Fang asked. That pretty much confirmed what I was thinking. How on earth did she get _that_ without anyone noticing her? I knew she was good with technology, but not _stealing _technology. Did anyone else know that?

"I rescued it. They took it from you and it was on the counter, so I took it back in all the confusion," Nudge admitted. "It was after I took off those electric collars. It just looked like the laptops they use to record all the stuff they learn from us, but I could tell it was ours 'cause it has the scratch marks from Total's claws and the heart I doodled on it when I was bored one day."

"Nudge," I said slowly, "why didn't you tell us that you had this?"

"I forgot?" she said, shrugging guiltily and attempting a halfway innocent expression. It failed pretty miserably. "I'm sorry? I didn't mean to? Anything?"

Fang held out his hand for the laptop and Nudge gave it to him carefully. "Sorry, Fang," she apologized again, "but you have it now, right? So it's not a total loss or anything. Imagine what would happen if we lost it."

Fang examined it. "If we'd lost this thing, I don't know what I'd do."

"It'd be back to Internet cafes and libraries," I said. "Which is so inconvenient." No, seriously, it would be. Can you imagine having to go from place to place just so that Fang could get on the computer every week? Yeah, I can see it now – 'Wait, Max, before we run away to somewhere safe, let's stop at a café to update the blog!' No, thank you.

"Hey, Fang, can I try something?" Nudge asked. "I need to see the laptop to do it, though."

"What do you want to do?" Fang asked.

"Trust me," she said. "Please?" She turned the Bambi eyes on him, and I knew he would give it up.

He handed it over to her, grumbling. Nudge sat abruptly down in the snow and flipped open the laptop. "Come on, come on," she coaxed as she turned it on. "Work! Please work…yes! Life!" The laptop booted up, and Nudge signed on and was on the Internet immediately. "Have you ever heard of Google Earth?" she asked me.

"Um, no," I replied slowly. I got a mental image of people searching for images of soil on Google. "What the heck is that?"

"Well, Google put a satellite out in space, it might have been a couple actually, now that I think about it, and now you can zoom in on stuff and see your house and everything. It's really cool. So…here, look." She turned the laptop towards me. There was a picture of the earth on the screen, floating in space. It rotated to show North America. She typed a command in and it spun so we could see Antarctica. "If I could get closer," she muttered. "I'd almost be able to see us."

Nudge frowned. "I think that you need an address or coordinates or something," she said, "and I don't know the coordinates of where we are…unless…" she peered at the screen and bit her lip. Then, she typed a series of numbers into the command bar and it zoomed in on a specific point on the huge continent.

"And there we are," said Nudge with a flourish. "You can't see us, but we're…." she did a double take of the screen. "Someone else is here, too." She pointed to a spot on the screen that pretty clearly showed a building.

"Maybe it's just nice scientists doing research," said Gazzy hopefully.

"And maybe I'm human," I muttered so he couldn't hear. Gr-eat. Aw, crap, Fang was right. We walked smack bang onto Itex's front porch."We're moving from here, right now. Nudge, pack up the laptop. Total, go with Iggy. U and A, everyone!"

_**You're not going anywhere, Max. You're going to stay right there. **_

I jumped visibly. It was the second voice again. He or she had been gone for a looong time. _**Just stay there and everything will be fine. You'll be okay. **_

Yeah, right. I knew better than to trust mysterious voices popping up in my head telling me to stay in one spot, _especially _in a sitch like this. Heck, I only halfway trust Jeb and he's my freaking father. _I'm not staying anywhere, _I said mentally. _Nice try. Next time, try to stay gone, will ya? _

"Come on, guys, get up, get up!" I willed. "Let's get away from here."

_**We're not going to kill you, Max. We're going to enhance you, make you better. We've decided that maybe there's some hope for you after all. You and your flock could be valuable, extremely valuable. **_

_Ha! So you _are _with Itex! _I crowed triumphantly. Oh, way to slip up. That was a stupid move. I took off into the air with the rest of my flock and sped off behind them in a random direction.

We hadn't gotten more than a mile away when I heard a _ssss-thunk! _I turned to see Angel plummeting to the snow, her eyes closed. "_Angel!" _I screamed, diving to catch her. Fang was closer and had already gone into a steep dive, but as soon as he caught Angel around twenty feet from the ground, another dart hit him and he began to fall as well. My breath caught in my throat. Oh no, no, no, no, no, this couldn't be happening…

I craned my neck in midair to try to see who was attacking us. Flyboys were gaining behind us, holding dart guns in their hands. One spotted me eying them and aimed his gun. I zigzagged through the air, trying to make myself harder to aim at. It was kinda hard considering the wingspan and the fact that I was panicking. I knocked Gazzy out of the way of another dart and shouted, "Fly lower! Get to Fang and Angel!"

Nudge zipped downward, followed by Iggy, Gazzy and then me. I heard another hissing sound and felt a sharp pain in my right forearm. I had time to think woozily, _Perfect, now I match. Now both of my arms are hurt, _before things started to go fuzzy around the edges.

The last thing I remembered was a distant, muffled thump as I hit the snow, and then everything, annoyingly, was black.

**A/N: Sorry for the suckiness and slowness of this chapter. And the cliffie. But the next chapter is going to be much better because…it's already part written and I know what'll happen! (Okay, it's only like a page and quarter, but it's a start…) I had to get from Point A to Point B in this chapter and explain some things, so sorry. But there was a clue in this chappie that's MAJORLY important…**


	23. Hollywood

I woke groggily with a headache and a strong sense of déjà vu. My nose was filled with the scent of disinfectant, which triggered memories I didn't especially want to relive. I pushed them down and blinked quickly to try and clear my head. It felt like it was stuffed with cotton or something. Holy crap, my head hurt. What was _in _those darts?

I sat up, and then realized that I shouldn't even be able to do _that. _I was normally strapped down to a table, but this time I was free to get up and move around. I was on a table, and I was in a semi-lab with all the look of a hospital room, but I was still in my normal clothes. Hey, we even had a window! What was up with this? Did Itex suddenly grow a conscience or something? I snickered quietly to myself as I imagined Roland ter Borcht waltzing in with a pile of cookies. Yeah, right. There's something else up.

I looked around. Fang and Iggy were awake too. And hey, Total was even next to Angel, both of them still knocked out. "This is _weird!_" said Iggy, realizing that I was awake. "Where are we? Why aren't we dead? I'm not complaining or anything, but you'd think that after we escaped once…"

"I think we're still in Antarctica," I replied. "That's what would make the most sense since we were apparently right by an Itex building the entire time. It's kind of freaky, you know? That we would end up _right by _the people trying to kill us."

"Like it was planned," Fang finished for me.

"Yeah, but it couldn't have been! They don't even know about-" I broke off. You never know who might be listening in this place. I hopped off the table toward Fang and lowered my voice. "You know that thing I told you about?" I asked him quietly. "That keeps popping up inside my head?"

"First or second?" he asked just as quietly.

"Second."

"Okay, go on."

"It said we were here to be improved or something. That we weren't here to be hurt. I don't believe it for a second, but do you think maybe that's why we're getting the VIP treatment all of a sudden? I know that if they wanted to kill us, they probably would have done it while we were knocked out, but they didn't…something really weird is going on here, and I don't like it at all."

"I don't either," he replied. Then he figured out part of what I had just said. "Wait. So is that part of Itex? What told you all of this, I mean."

"I bet it is."

Iggy cleared his throat. "Still here, and still confused."

"Sorry, Ig," I apologized. "It's kinda hard to explain considering where we are right now. They can probably hear every word we say." They were watching us too, most likely. Figuring out when it was best to make their move.

I heard stirring from the bed next to mine and turned to see that Nudge was waking up. "Max?" she asked. "Did they catch us? Are we dead yet?"

"We're not dead," I reassured her. "We're okay, everyone's here. They even let Total join the party today."

She managed to grin, even though all of her senses were probably going on red alert from being inside Itex. "That's better than last time, right? It's not like we're being hurt or experimented on or anything. We can just…well, I don't know. There's not a lot that we can do right now."

I gave her a half-smile. "We could…okay, you're right. Not much."

"We could play I Spy," said a sweet voice. I looked past Nudge to see Angel behind her, sitting up. Her hair was mussed, and she looked as if she had only been in a non-drug induced sleep. "Not that there's much in here to spy," she added, reading my mind.

The door beeped and I spun to see a whitecoat enter the room, carrying the customary clipboard. He glanced down at it and brushed brown hair out of his face. "Ah, the avian-hybrids," he said approvingly. "Here to be improved, according to this. You're very lucky to be some of the chosen ones."

I suppressed a snicker. _Chosen ones? _I mean, honestly, it sounded like something out of a bad sci-fi movie or something. "And who are you?" I asked him, raising my eyebrows.

"That's none of your concern," he replied briskly. He glanced at Gazzy, the only one still knocked out. "The eight year old still out, then? He _did _hit his head on the way down, which may be part of the problem."

"Yeah, whacking your head combined with a tranquilizer dart _would _knock you out for a bit," I said snidely to cover up my worry for the Gasman. How could he stand there and tell us that so calmly? 'Oh yeah, by the way, not only was he hit with a tranquilizer dart _in the air, _but he also hit his head, which was a pretty obvious hazard since we were shooting at you when you were hundreds of feet off the ground.' Good thing we dove down _some _before we got shot. I mean, you can't improve us if we're already dead of a broken neck, can you?

I sat back down on the 'bed' that I had woken up on and said, "So, while we're catching up like old chums, why don't you tell us why we're _really _here?"

The whitecoat looked confused. "I've told you already. You are here to be improved."

"We're never here just to be improved," said Fang. "It can't be that simple."

The whitecoat looked at Fang pretty warily and took an involuntary step back. I smirked. "Afraid of an experiment?" I asked him.

He jumped as if he'd forgotten that I was there. "No, of course not. What are you talking about? What gave you that idea?"

"I'm pretty good at reading faces," I answered. "You know, from having to be able to tell if I'm being dragged out of my dog cage for a good thing, or a bad thing. Mostly bad." _That _made him squirm. This was too easy.

"You do have a pretty good reason to be afraid of Fang here, though," I continued. "After all, we're not restrained at all. We could break your bones in a second. Oh, we won't, don't worry," I said at the quickened tempo of his breathing, "but we could."

"We probably will if you threaten us," Nudge chipped in. She couldn't stay silent for long. "Won't we, Max?"

I shrugged. Why tell _him _what we would plan on doing? We don't have a plan anyway. Yet.

Gazzy began stirring, and I lost my focus on the whitecoat. (Who, by the way, was shaking like a rabbit looking at a fox. Geez. What did I do?) "Max?" he asked blearily. "Are we at the School?"

I moved next to him. "No, we're still in Antarctica. Wake up, babe. We've got company." He sat up at that and rubbed his eyes, staring at the whitecoat who had suddenly begun taking notes.

"What's he doing?" Gazzy asked worriedly.

"Probably noting how good I look extra pale. It really sets off my hair nicely." Gazzy cracked a smile at that, and I could feel some of the tension vanish. "You'll be okay, bud. Don't worry."

The whitecoat coughed, and I stared at him. "What? Are you still here?"

"I have to stay until my superior gets here," he replied. "I have to report to him and get him up to speed."

Great. More of them.

"Just how many more of you are coming?" I asked suspiciously.

"Just one. And would you _please _stop looking at me so suspiciously? Would we have given you winter coats to keep from freezing to death if we wanted to kill you?"

I blinked. "That was _you?" _

"No, not me specifically, but-" The door swung open to reveal the expected whitecoat. He filled the door. He looked the Hollywood stereotype – tan, tall, muscular - and I wondered how _he _ever got into science. He looked like he belonged on a beach somewhere, not in a lab. He busted into the room with the unmistakable air of 'I'm-so-great'. Ugh. Not one of _them _on top of all this.

He stopped in front of me and looked down his nose disdainfully. "This is it?" He asked in an American accent. "You call me, raving about a genetic experiment ready to be enhanced, and _this _is what I get?" Hey! That cut. That cut real deep.

"It – it really is quite a wonder," stammered the first whitecoat. "It has wings, and super speed, and-"

"Shut up," growled the second whitecoat. I'll call him Hollywood since he looks like he belongs there. "I don't want to hear it."

"I've also got a _great _sense of humor," I chipped in. Oh, come on, how was I supposed to miss a golden opportunity like that? I smiled sweetly at Hollywood. He whipped around to look at me, then back at whitecoat number one.

"Is it programmed to say that?" Hollywood asked.

"No, I understand everything, thanks. So do they," I gestured to the rest of the flock. "So no swearing, if you don't mind. We have – _innocent ears – _around." I glanced at Angel, who caught my drift and looked up innocently as if to say, 'There's evil in the world?'

"Hey! Don't forget me!" chipped in Total. "I'm way smarter than some of them." One glance from Hollywood shut him up and he crawled back into Angel's arms.

"They have reason," said whitecoat one, jumping at the chance to prove himself again. "They're ninety eight percent human and two percent avian. However, Specimen Eleven-" he gestured to Angel, who suppressed a flinch, "not only has that genetic make up, but we're thinking of adding some new qualities as well. Maybe dolphin." I looked quickly at Angel, who remembered not to show fear just in time.

_It's okay, baby, _I thought her way. _Don't worry. I won't let them touch you. _

"And what can they do?" asked Hollywood.

The first whitecoat flipped pages on his clipboard. Man, I'm getting a major sense of déjà vu again. They really need to change things up so that every time we're captured, we go through something _different. _Like, maybe, instead of the whitecoats with clipboard asking us questions, they should play Twenty Questions. "Max, as she calls herself, has super speed. 'Nudge' has super sensory and technopath powers-" Man, that sounds awesome when you say it that way. "-'Gazzy' has mimicry. 'Iggy' and 'Fang' have no powers as of yet." Lies. Fang has teleportation. "Specimen Eleven, or 'Angel' has many. Would you like to hear them?"

"No," said Hollywood flatly. "I'd like to have them taken to be experimented on, actually."

My temper flared. One glance at Fang told me that he was picturing gladly killing both of those whitecoats. I couldn't say that I was surprised. I felt exactly the same way.

"I've got great insults already, so you don't have to _experiment _on that," I spat. "Like maybe if you weren't so stupid, your mother would love you. Do you think that maybe that's why you turned out so hateful? Because your mother never paid attention to you?"

Iggy snorted. I could see the anger beginning to rise to the surface of both whitecoats. Good. I needed something to yell about. I really needed to release some of the anger coiling in my stomach.

"Or," I continued, a random idea popping into my head, " I could say, 'omelet du fromar'. I just cussed you out in French!" Okay, so that _really _means cheese omelet, but _he _doesn't know that.

Hollywood spluttered. "I – I – shut up!" He was obviously used to saying that and having his orders followed. I wasn't about to start.

"Make us," said Iggy, glaring at Hollywood, obviously thinking along the same lines as me.

"We don't have to do what you say," added Gazzy. "We can do what we want. Right, Max?"

"Right, Gasman," I replied, ruffling his hair.

Hollywood turned to whitecoat one again. "Did you put them up to this?"

"N-no," he stammered. "I told you that they had reason. They don't like to be provoked."

"I don't want to hear that I've been proved wrong," Hollywood said. He glanced at Fang. "You. Goth boy. Do you talk?"

"No," answered Fang, appraising him easily.

"Can you do anything?" Hollywood asked his new target.

"Hmm…" Fang pretended to think about it. "Define 'everything'."

"Alright, I've had enough of this shit," Hollywood said, exhaling sharply.

"What did I _tell _you about that?" I asked, clapping my hands around Angel's ears. "No swearing! Didn't you learn anything as a kid?"

He stepped closer to me. "I learned how to survive," he hissed. "And you better learn too. Quick." He turned to whitecoat one and said, "Lock them up again until we need them. I'll tell you when to feed them, when to let them take a piss, everything. You don't do anything without my say-so, understand?" Whitecoat one nodded vigorously.

"Good." And Hollywood disappeared out of the door. Whitecoat one followed behind him like a dog. With one last wistful look at us, he shut the door. I could hear the final sound of a lock sliding into place.

There was silence in our little room for a second. Then Gazzy said, in a perfect imitation of Hollywood, "I'm going to threaten you until you all piss in your pants. Rawr!" He made his hands into claws.

I couldn't help but crack up.


	24. Bomb Threat

**A/N: Am I doing something wrong? There are a ton of people who still have me on alert and favorite stories, but only around 6-10 review each time out of about 75 alerts. PLEASE, guys, review and tell me how I'm doing! And just a warning, the T rating will be taking more of an effect from now on…**

**EDIT: Only part of the chapter got posted last time, so here is the FULL one!**

"Number of whitecoats ticked off today," said Fang, scratching two tick marks into the wall with a scalpel, "Two. Not bad. We really need to step it up, though."

"I know," I agreed. "We're not nearly at the usual quota. I mean, don't we normally have about five down by now?" I took the scalpel from him. My skin was crawling from just touching it, but I'd put it to a better use. I reached up and carved 'The Flock was here!' into the wall. I underlined it three times and leaned back on my heels, admiring my work. Gorgeous.

Iggy nodded. He was lying on his back on a table, swinging a leg over the side. "You know, normally we've pissed off a couple Chinese, an American, maybe a…um…what country is dear Roland from again?"

I shrugged. "Switzerland? Austria? He never figured it was important enough to tell us."

"He never thought about it either," piped up Angel from the floor. She was playing some sort of improvised game with Nudge. "Maybe he doesn't care."

"Yeah, because the country you're born in probably won't matter if they carry out that plan of theirs," I said sagely.

"We're still planning on stopping them, right?" asked Gazzy. "We won't let them win, will we?"

"Of course not!" I said indignantly. That hurt my pride. "We're going to get out of here, and then we're going to find a way to stop these plans."

"We do have one advantage," Nudge said out of the blue. I glanced down at her.

"What?"

"Itex is cocky," she answered. "They don't think that we have what it takes to beat them. They'll probably figure that we don't have enough brains to do anything. And they don't know that we know what they're planning to do."

I raised an eyebrow. "Good point," I said approvingly. She really did have a point there. We could definitely use that to our advantage. I mean, what if Itex thought that we couldn't do anything? They could accidentally give us the missing pieces of the puzzle!

Now _that_ would be pretty sweet.

"First off, though, we've got to get out of here," I said, snapping back to business. "Look for anything that could be a clue to get us out of here. Pat down the walls, look for someplace hollow. Anything." I followed my own directions and began feeling the walls, sliding my hands over them slooowly so I wouldn't miss anything. Now that I stopped to think about it, I couldn't believe our luck. They put us in a room, didn't strap us down, didn't put any restraints on us, and we were free to do what we wanted!

On the other hand, we had a camera watching our every move. There's a downside to everything, I guess. No dark without light and all that.

The rest of the flock spread out to search the room as well. Total did his job by searching the floor since he was lowest down, not without grumbling of course. He could catch any unusual scents that were there, too. Finally, the dog was making himself useful! You know I love the stupid thing, but you've gotta admit that he gets under your skin.

I found a bump that was out of place in the wall and frowned. I tapped it lightly, and it made a slight buzzing sound. There was a mike hidden in that wall, I bet. I _knew _they were listening in on us somehow. They wouldn't leave things as 'important' as us alone.

I caught Fang's eye and motioned with my head for him to join me. He crossed the room and I held a finger to my lips to signal for him not to talk. Like he would have talked a lot anyway, but whatever, you can never be too careful. I took his hand silently and guided it to the spot on the wall. "Feel that?" I asked in an extremely low tone, even though they'd probably still pick it up.

He nodded once. "Mike," he said, just as quietly.

I picked up the scalpel from where I'd dropped it on the floor. I held it in the direction of the mike with a raised eyebrow and a smirk. Maybe we should just get rid of this little threat we have here…

The corner of Fang's mouth twitched upward and he nodded as well. Nudge had noticed what we were doing and asked, "Max? What's up?" Damn it, Nudge! Three words could mess up everything. I dug the scalpel into the wall before they figured out what I was doing. They had probably seen it on the cams already, but oh, well. I pushed the tip in until I reached the little bubble that contained the miniscule mike. I reached in with one finger and scooped it out, dropping it to the floor. I lifted my foot and crushed the microphone beneath my heel, crushing it into the floor. It sparked and died.

"Oops," I said, grinning, talking now that the mike was crushed. "There goes a priceless piece of technology. Dang, that felt good." I looked at Nudge, who now looked slightly guilty for talking. "Don't sweat it, Nudge. I just didn't want them to hear what we were doing," I reassured her. The poor kid looked as if she'd just signed our death warrant or something. Well, actually, she might've, now that I think about it. Crap.

"Sorry," she said sheepishly. "I didn't know I wasn't supposed to say anything. They won't hurt you for breaking that, will they?"

"No," I lied, because they probably would. "And even if they were going to, they would even if you hadn't talked. They'd still know that we totally busted them." She smiled at that.

"So are we done searching?" I opened my mouth to answer her, but the door swung open. It was Hollywood back again, and he was _pissed. _

"What did you do to the microphone?" he asked through clenched teeth. His face was turning red. Wow, it didn't take long for them to figure out what I did.

"What microphone?" I asked innocently. Then I opened my mouth in a wide O and lifted my foot to show the remains of it. "You mean _this _thing? It's a mike? I thought it was a bug! Couldn't you hear me screaming? It really scared me, so I skooshed it." I smiled at him. "I'm sorry. I don't have training in technology. How'm I supposed to know what a microphone looks like?"

"That's it," he growled, taking a step toward me. "You're coming with me." I could feel Fang shift his weight slightly next to me, ready to jump in front of me or at the macho man standing in front of us. "Let's go, bird girl," Hollywood continued.

I sighed in exasperation and rolled my eyes, trying to stall. "Doesn't _anyone _remember? It's Avian American! Say it. Avian. American. Not bird girl, not experiment 409 or whatever my freaking number is. Got it?" Hollywood's hand formed a fist. He took another step, then stopped and smirked. He turned on his heel and left the room, closing the door behind him.

"…That was weird," said Iggy after a pause. "Did he just leave without doing anything?"

"Yep," I said, tensing. "But he won't be gone for long, I bet you." I could already hear footsteps coming back down along the hall. The door swung open again, and this time Hollywood was flanked by two Flyboys, both with guns aimed at me.

"Come with me. All of you," he threatened. "Or this one dies." I knew that if he killed me, he'd just have the Flyboys keep shooting at the rest of the flock until we were all dead. There was no point in resisting. I put my hands in the air slowly, and took a step forward.

"You got me," I relented. "We'll come." _But I don't have to like it. _

_**This is where rash actions get you, Maximum. **_Jeb said in the corner of my brain that he'd roped off especially for himself. _**You're out of the frying pan and into the fire, and you're burning up. **_

_Of course, it would be too much effort to try and spring me, wouldn't it? _I thought snidely, keeping an eye on Hollywood, who was moving closer. His hand reached for my hair, and I jerked away, glaring at him. I stepped back into Fang on accident, who wrapped a hand around my wrist. "I said that I would go, not that you could touch me," I spat at Hollywood.

"You'll do what I want," said Hollywood coolly, calm now that he was back in control. "I'm the one with the firepower. You are unarmed." He looked at the rest of the flock, sizing them up. He smirked again. "Actually," he said slowly. "I don't want all of you. I want this one and the black girl." His gaze landed on Nudge. Her eyes grew wide and she looked at me for help.

"Just take me," I said immediately. "Don't hurt her." Fang's grip tightened on my wrist, and I knew that I'd get an earful from him later. That was if I lived to see later.

Hollywood grinned. "Maybe I _will_ take just you," he said, looking me up and down. I heard the double meaning in his words and flinched. Fang's hand left my wrist and instead wrapped an arm around my waist, both holding me back and trying to calm me down. I was pulled up against his chest, glaring. Hollywood looked at him, frowning. He looked from me to Fang and back again. I could tell that he was trying to figure out how Fang felt about me, and I could tell when it finally clicked in his thick head when he smirked. I could feel Fang's heartbeat pick up through his shirt.

"No, I'll take both you and the black girl, like I said. And then I'll _take _just you to get to Goth boy behind you. It seems like he likes you a lot, bird girl. See the way he glares at me?" He grinned again as Fang's grip tightened. "Yeah, this'll be fun. I get you, I can do whatever I want with the black one, and I'll break Goth's spirit. Perfect."

I was beginning to have second thoughts about going with him, but if I didn't, he'd kill the flock and I'd be forced to watch. Nudge and I would find a way out of there. It wouldn't be that hard, would it? Just one human against two bird kids trained in fighting. Right. Okay.

"But first," he said, some of the air going out of him, "you two are going to pass a test."

My heart rate tripled. I'd heard those words way too many times for comfort, and they never meant anything good. "Come with me," Hollywood continued. He motioned for one of the Flyboys to train its gun on Fang's head. "Now."

I closed my eyes and gently pried Fang's arm off of my waist. I turned to face him, trying to tell him with my eyes that everything would be fine. "Don't do this," he whispered. I stepped away from him.

"Better me than you," I said back. "You know what to do." I took one last look at him and turned away, back towards my new enemy. I could have sworn I saw a flash of something that I couldn't quite place in Fang's eyes, but there was no time to think about it. I took Nudge's hand and squeezed it. Hers was shaking. She looked up at me, eyes wide. "Come on, Nudge," I said reassuringly. "We're just going to go for a little walk, okay?"

Hollywood grabbed my wrist and pulled me away, dragging Nudge behind us. Once we were free of the doorway, the door slammed shut, locking me away from the rest of my flock. It locked automatically behind me. I was going to have to find a way to get back in. Once I got out of this, I'd have to save the rest of my flock.

He dragged us down endless hallways until we came to a room marked, DANGEROUS. DO NOT ENTER. I mean, of _course _we get that room. It's only natural that the people that were supposed to be (cough) _improved _are going to the most dangerous room, right? Right. And whatever happened to being improved anyway?

He pushed open the door and shoved us inside. In the white-walled room was a table with a package wrapped in brown paper on it. It looked like UPS had just dropped it off. He went through another door in the wall to my left and disappeared. The door seemed to vanish as soon as it was shut. His voice came over a speaker in the left corner of the room. "You. Nudge, is it? You're a technopath, correct?"

Nudge could only nod, scared to death.

A section of the wall slid back to reveal a digital timer with red numbers. "There are ten minutes on that timer. Do you see that package on the table in front of you? In there is a bomb. You have exactly ten minutes before that bomb blows the both of you up. All of the walls are bomb proof, so don't make the mistake in thinking that the bomb will affect the rest of Itex. You and your self-proclaimed leader will die, and you will be proved unworthy to be improved. Do you understand?"

Nudge nodded dumbly. Her breathing quickened. I was freaked too. That was _beyond _wrong, people! They were forcing her to deactivate that freaking bomb before the both of us were killed. And if Nudge did manage to deactivate it, I'd probably be raped. _Lovely. _

Where was Iggy when you _needed _him? Not that I doubted Nudge, of course.

"Oh, and by the way, to increase the…urgency of the situation," Hollywood continued, "if you fail, your entire flock is considered a failure. They will die because you failed." Nudge's breathing hitched, and my fist clenched, itching to be sunk down Hollywood's throat. "You have ten minutes," Hollywood repeated. "Go."

The timer flashed once and began to count down.


	25. The One That Started It All

**A/N: You're back, reviewers! Nearly twenty reviews in two days! (It's Monday the 25th as I type this A/N.) Thank you! EDIT: Dang snow day. (Never thought I'd say that.) This was saved at school and I couldn't get to it! **

_The timer flashed once and began to count down. _

I scanned the room for an exit or way to escape, pushing down the panic. Maybe there was a way out of this before we were killed. Nudge's hands hovered over the package, eyes closed. Her hands were sweating. I guessed that she was sensing what the person had done to design the bomb, and hoped that there were no misleading trails hidden there. What if the person that made the bomb made a mistake that Nudge too would make?

Nudge slowly loosened one string of the package with a shaking hand. "No motion sensors," she whispered. "There's a wire that will set everything off, but there's also one that'll deactivate it." The paper fell open, and inside was a mass of wires.

"Stop," I said suddenly on impulse, to the whole room. I spun in a circle because I didn't know where I was supposed to be talking to. "You don't have to do this. I'm right here! Don't hurt the rest of them!"

"Don't be so stuck up," Hollywood's voice said over the speaker. "Didn't you get that message on that laptop of yours a few weeks ago? The one that said that the fate of the world depended upon the entire flock?" My blood ran cold. I remembered, alright. I'd had Fang shut everything down just in case they got a lock on where we were.

"We want _all _of you now," Hollywood continued. "Not just you. Welcome to our world, Max."

I glanced at Nudge again. She glanced at me quickly. "I can't cut the wire!" she said, glancing at the tangle of multicolored wires in front of her that were the bomb. "That's not fair!"

"You won't have anything on the battlefields either," Hollywood said, using his flawed logic. "Be resourceful."

_**Tell her to look under the table, **_Jeb said urgently. _**Do it, Max! Otherwise you'll never get out of this alive. **_

"Look under the table for something to use," I muttered out of the corner of my mouth. "Trust me." One of Nudge's hands slipped under the table, searching for something, anything, to get us out of this mess.

_**I see you,**_said the second voice smugly. _**Having fun? I certainly am.**_

_Shut up! _I shouted in my head. I was still trying not to panic, and at the moment, I was failing _miserably_. I glanced at the timer and saw that we only had five minutes left, and counting. _Just get out of my head! _

_**I'm afraid I can't do that. Though at the moment I wouldn't miss anything. I'm in the room with you, but **_**you can't see me! **Whoever this was, first of all was a) enjoying him/herself _way _too much, b) literally going to drive me out of my mind, and c) apparently _in the room? _Were they with Hollywood or something in the room attached to this one? Wait a second – _was my second voice Hollywood? _This was getting to be too much.

"Got something!" exclaimed Nudge under her breath. She pulled a short scalpel from a hidden compartment under the table, no doubt intended to dissect what was left of us after the bomb blew us into a million bits of Max and Nudge. I looked at the timer again. Three minutes.

"Nudge, cut the wire," I said urgently. "Once you know which one it is, cut the wire, please!"

"I'm trying!" she replied, holding the scalpel over first one wire, then the other. "But I'm getting different signs from these wires – they both say that the designer did something really, really important, but I get a stronger signal from one and I'm just not sure…" I got what she meant. It could be stronger because it was the one that could kill us, or because it was the one that would save our lives.

My brain began coming up with a plan. If Nudge got the right wire – _please, Nudge, please – _then Hollywood would have to come back through the door for me. That would be our only chance to escape. If I could just stall him from shutting the door too quickly…

"Max," Nudge whispered. "I think I know which one it is. If I'm wrong, I am so, so sorry. You don't even know how sorry I'd be. Even after I was dead, I'd be sorry. Like, monumentally sorry." I looked at the timer again. One minute. I glanced back at Nudge.

"It's okay Nudge," I reassured her. I hugged her tight, pushing away the thought that she would be the last person I'd ever hug. "Don't worry. You do what you have to do." Her arms squeezed me tight, and then she let me go. She turned back to the bomb with forty seconds left on the clock.

"Which one is it going to be?" taunted Hollywood. "This or that. That or this. Make a choice, little mutant. But don't choose wrong." My teeth ground together in frustration. I would tell you what I thought about him right at that moment, but I think JP would edit it out anyway. It's not exactly printable.

"I'm not choosing wrong!" Nudge shouted at him, slicing through the wire. I held my breath and closed my eyes.

Nothing happened.

I opened my eyes again and grinned shakily at Nudge. She'd done it. Of course she had. How could I have doubted her? Sweet, sweet, beautiful, gorgeous Nudge, my savior! Okay, so I was ranting almost as badly as she does. But hey, I was relieved. I'm allowed to do that, yeah?

Silence from Hollywood. Take that, you unprintable word. What now?

I looked around the room again. If I was right, which I was pretty sure I was, we came in right about over there and Hollywood disappeared right over there. I sidled over to where I thought we had come in and leaned against the wall. I put a hand behind my back as if I was itching, but really I was searching for a handle or something so we could get out before Hollywood came back to….well; let's just not even think about that right now. It doesn't exactly help with _good _memories, you know?

Part of the wall on my left seemed to swing open. I was right – that _was _where Hollywood had been hiding. So if that was right, then the door handle should be hidden around here _somewhere…_come on, come on! Where is it? My hand kept inching along the wall. Nudge caught my eye and realized, thankfully, that this was _not _the time to ask me what I was doing, but looked like she was going to bust with things she wanted to say. Thank the Lord the child has the sense not to talk when it's life-threatening.

Hollywood stepped through the doorway with a highly disappointed look on his face that was mingled with one of greed and anticipation. "So you passed the test," he said, sneering. "You get to live, and you saved your flock. Congratulations." My hand hit something solid, and I felt around it. It felt like the handle, but I didn't dare to hope yet. I started turning it slowly, and shifted my weight so that I wasn't leaning on the door, but also so Hollywood still couldn't see what I was doing.

"Now, that one will be escorted back to your room," Hollywood said, pointing at Nudge. Then he turned to me with a sick grin. "And you will come with me."

"Um, how about _no?" _I asked with a raised eyebrow. "Or, that'll never, _ever _in a million zillion _years _happen?" I kept stalling for time as I slowly turned the handle. "I honestly don't think you've studied me that well, I mean, really, you expect me to just willingly _go with you?_ Have you read the reports on what happens when people do that? It doesn't turn out so well."

"Have you forgotten what will happen if you don't?" he asked me. "You and your flock will all die."

"Not if I can help it," I shot back. "I've gotten them out of near death situations before. Now isn't any different." I flung open the door and shouted, "_Go_, Nudge! Get out of here!" She obeyed without question, flinging herself out of the open doorway and racing back towards where the rest of the flock was kept.

"_Get back here!" _Hollywood bellowed, making a swipe at me, but I dodged him and landed a punch of my own right on his perfect nose. He howled, and I took the chance to skedaddle out of there. Time to rescue the rest of the flock and get the _h _out of here.

000000000000000000000

The Director of Itex leaned back smugly in her chair. Everything was falling into place. Max had just escaped the clutches of Warner – much to his dismay and pain, as she had also given him a broken nose to heal. She shook her head. The man needed to grow up if he was going to howl like a two year old over a broken bone. He would have to be taken care of. He couldn't be working on his own agenda like that. _Honestly_. Raping an experiment? And he was _supposed _to let them escape. He was going to need a little…_reminding _of his purpose here.

She rewound the video feed on her computer screen to re-watch the clip of Max and the other experiment – her real name was Monique, but she went by Nudge – disable the bomb. It had been a simple task that she knew they could accomplish, and of course they had found the hidden scalpel – she had been _counting_ on them to remove it, for if they hadn't, it never would have activated the invisible scan that told them _everything _that they needed about the mutants, down to the last phosphate group of their DNA. The scan was virtually undetectable – they wouldn't feel any after effects, let alone know that they had even been scanned in the first place.

If they hadn't been able to deactivate that bomb, then they were dumber than she thought. Worthless. Trash.

Now, of course, Max would be setting the rest of her flock free, and then the next stage of her perfect plan would begin.

On impulse, she held out her right arm and pushed up the sleeve of her tailored suit with a manicured hand. The bruises from when she had been forcefully grabbed and dragged into the sky – only to be dropped and caught once more – were fading, but they were still there, and quite painful. She traced one finger shaped bruise with a red-painted nail. She was going to get her revenge on the mutants. The By-Half plan must not fail. The Re-Evolution _would _happen. Nothing could get in the way of that. _Nothing. _She had to save the world.

She was certain that the hybrids had no idea of how the plan would be executed. Not even they were that smart. But then again, they had that traitor Batchelder helping them every other second...someone was going to have to look after him extra carefully. They couldn't afford his mistakes.

The phone rang, distracting her from her meditations. She picked up after the second ring. "Yes?" she asked in a clipped tone. "What is it? I'm busy."

"You ordered me to speak to Warner, Director?" said a man's voice on the other end.

_Morgan, _the Director thought. _Just who I needed to talk to. _

"Yes, and take some robots with you," she replied. "The wolf-shape shifting kind, not the improved ones. We're still experimenting on those."

"Yes, Director."

"Convince him of what he _needs _to be doing."

"Yes, Director."

"Oh, and Morgan?" she asked, before she hung up.

"Yes?"

"Keep a tab on the avians," she told him, and replaced the phone on the receiver.

**A/N: Important question! Should I continue after MR4 comes out March 17?? I have it all planned out, and I wouldn't deviate from it, but just wondering if anyone would still read...**


	26. Murder Notice

**A/N: Nudge moment! **_**The Final Warning **_**is HERE, guys! I am so majorly uber-excited. (Who cares if majorly isn't a word?) I'm done already. It's WAY too short. If anyone else has finished it, let me know and PM me so we can talk! Man, am I tempted to write a post MR4 fanfic, but alas, I have enough trouble writing two…maybe I can do it anyway…**

I had hightailed it out of that death chamber and arrived at the cell where the rest of my flock was kept, panting, practically dragging Nudge behind me. Miraculously, the door was unlocked, and I threw it open, unwilling to believe my luck. "Fang, we need to get out of here," I said, ushering Gazzy out of the doorway. 

He realized what I meant and his eyes widened slightly. His jaw set. "Max-" he started, but I, being the impatient and loving person I am, interrupted him. 

"Fang, if we stay here, _they'll find us. _We're running out of time. We can't stay on Antarctica for the rest of our lives, which by the way, won't last very long if you don't do this." I looked at him, saw how tense he was, and changed tack. "Look," I said, making my voice less harsh, "I know this is really, really dangerous for you. Do you think that maybe you can just take two of us at a time?" 

He looked at me, still with no expression on his face, even though I could tell just by looking at how his fists were clenched that he was freaked. That by itself was making me nervous – Fang and scared just didn't go together. Fang was never scared, or at least he never showed it. "Fine," he said tersely. "For the flock." I knew that he would probably be pissed off at me later, but what else was I supposed to do? Stay here and _let _my family be killed?

I don't think so. 

"Max?" asked Nudge

Fang turned to me again. "Where?" 

I shrugged, doing another 360 to check that there was no one following us, ready to rip us apart. Amazingly, there was still no one there, which was ringing alarm bells in my head. They couldn't possibly _want _us to escape. That made no sense. I pushed that thought out of my head and continued scanning, counting flock members, deciding what to do. 

"If you can get us all to the same spot, I don't care if you bring us to Thailand," I told him. "Take Ig, Angel, and Total first. That way Iggy can watch her when you leave. I don't want to leave the little guys alone. Then Gazzy and Nudge, then me. I'll go last." (And yes, I know I said that the blind guy was going to _watch _- you know what? Never mind. I'm tired of explaining myself.) Fang nodded once and took a deep breath, still showing no emotion on his face. Angel sent a thought into my head that said, _Fang is really scared about this_. 

_I know, sweetie, _I thought back. _But it's the only way to get back home. _What did he expect us to do, take a _plane _back to…wherever we were going? 

"Let's get this over with," said Fang. "Iggy, Angel – ready?" They nodded. Angel took a hold of Fang's hand, cradling Total in her other arm, whose button eyes were squeezed shut, obviously not completely trusting Fang afterMr. Dark and Mysterioushimself almost died last time. 

And – here was the weird thing – _they vanished. _I was expecting some warning or something, but as soon as Iggy's hand touched Fang's, they were gone. No preparation, no sonic _boom_ – they just disappeared. If I hadn't known that it was Fang that caused it, I would have been on red alert right now, freaking myself out.

Okay, so I was still on red alert, but that's beside the point. 

Agonizing seconds passed. Had they made it? Were they stuck in limbo or something? How long did it take to teleport people anyway? I did another 360. Still no one. That was getting creepy. There were no alarms, no footsteps, not even a whitecoat going off to experiment on some poor kid. It was as if they were avoiding our hallway or something. That was the weirdest thing about all this. 

"Max." 

I jumped about ten feet in the air. Fang was back behind me, coming down a different hallway. I hadn't even heard his footsteps. Relief flooded through me. He looked okay. He wasn't knocked out. Maybe we could do this. "Where are they?" I asked him. 

"Our old house," Fang said. "It was the place I knew best. It's easiest to get there." 

Gazzy and Nudge went next; Nudge with her eyes shut tight. It was a much shorter time period this time before Fang came back for me. He didn't overshoot to the next hallway this time, instead appearing right outside the door of our old prison. He was getting a lot better at this teleporting thing. He was a little paler now from the effort, but he was holding up pretty well. I wrapped my arms around him and held him tightly. "Thanks," I whispered. 

He looked at me, a smile tugging at the edges of his lips. "As tempting as it was to leave you here…" 

"Oh, shut up," I muttered. 

"Ready?" he asked me. 

"As I'll ever be." 

And then – poof – there was nothing. I couldn't see the walls around us anymore, but it was dark and cold wherever we were, the way I imagined space would be like. (Astronaut Max!) It felt like there were winds rushing past us or something. Then suddenly, it was over. It had only taken maybe three seconds, if that. We were standing in the woods outside of our old mountain house. I could spot the flock up a hill in front of us. They were lighting a fire. Then I caught sight of our wrecked house, and my throat closed tight with memories. I felt like bawling for all the stuff that we'd lost, but I held it in. No way was I crying – again – in front of Fang. Maybe, once all of this was over, we could fix this place up. Come back and live here. 

Yeah, right. Who was I kidding? 

"Are you going to stare or are we going to meet up with the rest of the flock?" Fang asked from behind me. 

I shook my head rapidly to clear it. "Sorry. It's just…" 

"Seeing the house again." 

I nodded. "Yeah. Exactly. It hurts, you know? All the stuff that we've done here…it seems like a million years ago we were safe with a home."

He slipped his arms around my waist and put his chin on my shoulder. "Yeah. I know what you mean." 

I sighed and placed my arms over his. "We can't change anything. We just have to play with the cards we're dealt." 

"Even if they suck." 

I smiled reluctantly. "Even if they're horrible and there's almost no chance of you winning." 

"Who said there was no chance?" he asked me, kissing me softly. He pulled away quickly and started off towards the flock, calling back over his shoulder, "Were you planning on making them worry or are you coming with me?" 

I rolled my eyes. "I'm coming, you weirdo." I followed him up the hill towards the flock and the fire. 

"Max!" Nudge shouted once we reached her. "Oh my gosh! That was amazing! Did you _see _what he can do now? This is awesome! I mean, it's so amazing! I wish I could do that! If only he could take all of us at the same time without almost dying, all our Flyboy problems would be, like, solved instantly! Think about it: we're in the middle of a fight, right, and then – wait! Where are all the Flyboys? I don't know! And then Fang comes back and he's a total hero because he teleported _them _to Antarctica-" 

"Nudge," I interrupted her. "Shut. Up." 

"Sorry," she replied sheepishly. She mimed locking her mouth and throwing away the key, and I couldn't help but forgive her already – even though my ears were bleeding. 

"Why didn't anyone try to stop us?" Angel wondered out loud, shaking out her wings and stretching her feet towards the fire. "Normally they turn out everyone and we have to fight to get out of there, but today there was no one. They just…let us go." 

"I don't know," I answered truthfully, even though I _hated _saying those words. "Maybe they decided that they would just leave us alone for once." That was the _biggest _lie I've ever told, people. There was no way that they'd just forget about us. Don't I wish. 

"I wish we could go back," Gazzy said softly, looking at the ruins of our house. "If the stupid School hadn't figured out where we were, maybe we'd still be happy. Normal." Well, we could never be exactly _normal,_ but I got what he meant. We all wanted to be safe and in one spot, instead of constantly on the move every day. 

I hugged him close. He was only _eight. _He didn't deserve this. My thoughts clouded with anger at his parents, who supposedly sold him and Angel to the School for money. How could they give up their own _son?_ I mean, really, IMHO, _they _were the freaks. "I'm sorry, bud," I said quietly. "I really am. But you have us, and everything will be fine. I promise." 

"Yeah, I know," he said, shrugging out of my hold. "But I still want to go back." 

"Me too, Gasman," I sighed. "Me too." 

"_This _is where you guys used to live?" asked Total. "Was it cool?" 

"Unbelievably cool," I told him. "You don't even know." 

"Better than France?" 

I raised my eyebrows at his question, but answered, "Yeah, Total. Definitely way better than France was." I glanced at Iggy, who still hadn't said anything. I guessed that he was listening hard to the surroundings, because he had an intent look on his face.

"What's up, Iggy?" I asked. "What do you hear?" 

"Nothing unusual," he said. "It just sounds so…familiar, you know? I missed it." 

I sighed. "I know, Ig. I'm so sorry we had to leave." Remember when I could count how many times I've said 'I'm sorry' on one hand? Those days are _gone_, baby. 

Later, I sent everyone off packing to the hay. I had to argue with Iggy for awhile, but eventually even he was asleep. Fang and I were the only ones left awake now, and I leaned against a tree and just took in everything that had happened. Things were _insane _right now. Even more insane then usual. 

_**You're right, Max. And they're about to get worse, **_chimed in Voice numero dos. 

I jumped and put a hand to my temple. Fang snapped his head around to look at me. "What?" he asked me. I held up a finger – I needed a sec to listen. 

_What do you mean, 'about to get worse'? That's pretty tough. _

_**You'll see. Just wait. There are some things that you must do, Maximum, in order to be the best that you can be. **_

_Funny, but I don't _remember _asking you for any advice, _I thought snidely. God, this was getting old. I wanted to curl up in a ball and just make everyone go away. Why was everyone on my case all the time? Do this, do that. Maybe I don't freaking _want _to anymore!

_**It's alright. **_

_Whatever. _

I sat back against the tree again and sighed. Fang glanced at me. "Voice?" 

"You have no idea," I said wearily. "I wonder what it would take to shut it up." 

Fang shrugged. "Who knows? Ask Jeb." 

I frowned. "I'm not asking him for anything. Not anymore. I still don't trust him all the way yet." Fang just shrugged again, leaned back against the tree, and closed his eyes, though I knew he wasn't relaxed or asleep. A few minutes passed with blessed, blessed silence. But then, of course, _something _had to ruin it. 

_**Are you listening? **_

_Funny. I think there should be words, but all I hear is this little buzzing…_

_**Max, this is important.**_

_Shove it. Don't care. _

_**Max. **_

_WHAT already? _I snapped. 

_**Kill Fang, Max. You must kill Fang. **_


	27. Touring America

A/N: Okay, I've decided this will be your fanfiction to heal from the disappointment of the fourth book

**A/N: I am discontinuing the story. Sorry.**

**APRIL FOOLS! **

**But I **_**am**_** sorry for the long wait. Anyway, I've decided this will be your fan fiction to heal from the disappointment of the fourth book. Heal after TFW! HEAL! **

I felt like I was being drenched in ice water from the shock. I hadn't liked whoever this was before, but now they had really crossed the line. _Kill _him? My best friend? No way, no how, mister. Or miss. Whoever he/she was.

_Are you kidding? _I asked, trying to blow it all off as a joke. I squeezed my eyes shut to concentrate better, feeling like I was having an out of body experience or something. _I'm _not _doing that. You must be insane. Oh, wait, you are insane! Now I remember. You haven't exactly made me believe that you're not some psycho sitting in a room having a good laugh at me. _

_**This isn't a joke. He has become a threat.**_

_To who? To me, or to you? I'm not doing it, and as far as I know, you don't control my arms yet, so good luck trying to make me do it. I obey the people I _trust – _keyword, trust. I _don't_ trust _you_. _

_**Whatever you say. But my word still stands. Bye, Max…**_

I opened my eyes to Fang waving his hand in front of my face. "You okay?" he asked. "The second voice again?"

"Yeah," I said shakily. "Yeah, the voice."

"What did it say?"

My face shut down. Normally, I would tell Fang everything – _everything. _I don't think that there's a single thing about me that he doesn't know. I told him every bad dream, every fear, asked him about nearly every decision – but this was one thing that he was never, _ever _going to find out about. "Nothing important," I said, maybe a little shakily.

Fang just looked at me.

"I swear," I reinforced. I could tell that he didn't believe me, but he just shrugged and turned away.

"You'll tell me eventually," he said, his back turned. "So whenever you're ready."

My eyes narrowed. "Whatever, bird boy." I flashed back to that voice saying, _'He has become a threat' _and inched away just by a bit. I immediately felt guilty for even _thinking_ that. Fang wasn't a threat. This second voice couldn't be trusted.

Right?

I groaned mentally. One more thing to add to my list of things to think about. I could practically _feel _all of the pressure starting to press down on me, and it was going to give me the worst headache _ever. _I glanced at Fang one more time and curled up like a cat, trying to make myself more comfortable. I closed my eyes…

…and one hour later was _still_ trying to get to sleep.

It was going to be a looong night.

The next few days passed by in a bit of a blur. I didn't get any surprise visits from the voice, but I was tense the whole time and snapped at everyone, to the point where Iggy asked me, "Do you have PMS or something? What's your deal?" He couldn't see the death glare that I was giving him, so he must have sensed that I would strangle him if he kept talking, so he wisely backed off.

Plus, to add to everything, we were _back _in America, the last place that I wanted to be, considering how much we get recognized here. I drove my flock to exhaustion moving from place to place, paranoid that we would be recognized and our pictures would be plastered all over the news again. I think they hated me.

Actually, I'm pretty sure they did.

Now, we were over Ohio, and I was starting to relax a little bit. (Well, as much as I could with all of the things that everyone was loading on to me right now.) You know how I said _starting _to relax? Well, first of all, Nudge started talking. That made me tense right back up again.

"Max, what are we going to do now?" she asked. "We haven't really done anything for like, three days, and I'm not complaining or anything, but it would just be nice to have…I don't know…a purpose, you know?"

"Yeah, Nudge, I know exactly what you mean," I sighed, rubbing my temples. Just when I was starting to think about exactly _what _I was going to do next, the second thing wanting to contribute to my migraine stepped forward.

_**Max…you know driving you crazy is really fun. **_

I closed my eyes wearily. _Shut up. I'm not listening. _

_**Do you remember what I said a few days ago? **_

I opened my eyes again. How could I _forget _what they had said back then? It already felt like a million years ago, and every second of those million years I had been thinking about what that voice had said. Asking me to forget that would be like…like…like asking me to forget that Jeb had left us two years ago. In other words – impossible.

_**It still stands. Kill him, Max. It would be easy. **_

"I'll be right back," I muttered to Fang.

"Wha-" But he didn't even have time to finish his sentence before I was in the air, my wings out to grip the air like a dog grips a steak with its teeth. I poured on the speed and was away in seconds, gone, gone, gone. I left my thoughts behind with the rest of the flock and let the tension that had been coiling every muscle melt away. Flying almost always helped me get rid of everything I was worried about.

When I had been gone for about half an hour, I decided it was about time to head back to the rest of the flock. Don't get me wrong – I wasn't avoiding my fam or anything. I just didn't want to have to think about everything – how to stop global warming, how _not _to snap and hurt someone, how to shut the voice up about killing Fang (like I was going to do that!)…_god,_ the next time you think about having the weight of the world on your shoulders, imagine me standing next to you. Then imagine me sending you the biggest and worst death glare that you have ever seen.

When I touched down back to where the Flock was, stumbling slightly, five worried faces stared back at me. "Oh, thank god, you're back!" said Nudge, but I held up a hand – _please _not now.

"Okay, Nudge, in answer to your question," I said, "I think that we should find out some more about the whole global warming thing. If that's how Itex is going to carry out their By-Half plan, then we've got to do something, right?"

She nodded, her whole mood brightening up at the thought of doing something. I remembered when she always wanted to stop and relax – maybe I was rubbing off on her a bit too much.

Nah!

"So are we staying here? In the U.S?" Angel asked. "I really want to stay in the country, Max. I don't want to leave again. I just to stay in one spot. I want a home again."

I glanced at Fang, about to tell her that we couldn't, it was just too risky. He met my eyes and shrugged, as if to say, _It's your call. _I made the mistake of looking at her and whipped my head back around as fast as I could. God dang it, she'd given me the stupid puppy eyes again! She knew I couldn't resist the puppy eyes!

I sighed. If there was one fatal weakness that I had, it was those damn eyes. Even without her mind puppet power, she could make me do whatever she wanted as long as she just glanced at me. Why did she have to be so persuasive? "Fine," I relented. "But the first time we get recognized, we're out of here, got it?"

"Yes!" cheered Angel. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

I gave her a half smile. "Welcome."

"Okay, so where do you think we should go first?" I asked Fang.

"Well, China's out," he said. "None of us want to go to California again. What other Itexes are there in America?"

"Looks like we're going sightseeing," said Iggy, grinning. "Let's do it!"

I rolled my eyes. "We are _not _sightseeing. We're on a _mission_. Okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say."

"Iggy…" I said warningly.

He turned his head in my direction. "What? I said okay."

I cracked my knuckles and sighed for the umpteenth time. It was going to be a long few days, and I was not looking forward to them.

_**Max? **_asked Jeb.

_Yes, father dear?_

I could practically feel him bristle at the sarcasm. _**Is that voice still there? I'm looking into it, but I'm not getting much. It's harder than it seems to find information around Itex without getting caught, but I've got some. **_

_Alright, so quit patting yourself on the back and tell me what it is!  
_

_**The American Itex has nothing to do with it. It's one of the foreign countries.**_

_Great…one down, two million to go. _

_**Maximum Ride, this is your life. Get used to it – or you'll never survive. **_

**A/N: Definitely not one of my best chapters, but it's intended to move the story from one phase to another. Yeah. I hate this chapter, but now we are basically in Part 2! Yay! Phase 1 – complete. There'll probably be a part three as well…yeah, it'll be long. :D **

**So, apologies for the delay and the iffy chapter, but it's going to get better and WAY more exciting!**


	28. When Super Humans Attack

**A/N: -lightning flashes in the background, FantasyFan5 cackles evilly-**

**IT – IS – ALIVE!! MWA HA HA!!**

**My story, that is. And I am, too. ((cowers in shame)) Finally, a new chapter! So, this is part two of TFA, which will be pretty short (seven chapters, short compared to part one!) and there'll be a part three as well…geez, I think that this will end up being longer than TFW. (Ha, TFA, TFW. Never mind.) **

Have you ever woken up and not been able to breathe through your nose because of, like, allergies or something? It sucks, right? You wake up from dreamland, where you were all happy and everything, and then, bam. Reality hits. Alright, that was dramatic. Anyway, now imagine waking up and not being able to breathe _at all. _You try to inhale, only to realize there's a hand clamped over your mouth and nose, blocking your air. You panic and start thrashing around, trying to release their hold on you so you can freaking _breathe_.

Have you figured out that that's actually happened to me yet? Good job.

I tried to bolt upright, but I was stopped by a strong arm. "Stay still," said a voice, surprisingly deep. I twisted around in the dark anyway, trying to see my attacker, but they had wisely stayed behind me and made it impossible for me to turn all the way around. They were holding me so tightly I was almost afraid that they'd cut off my circulation.

The fire was still going, but all of the attackers were wisely staying in the shadows. Dang. Another quick recon showed that the rest of the flock was out cold, but they didn't seem to be hurt. If I looked closer, though, I could barely make out the outlines of shapes that looked human standing guard behind them. Flyboys?

But wait a second…the voice that had told me to stay still wasn't computer-like…and the hand that was holding me oh-so-tightly was warm – like there was blood running under the skin…

So what was it? Or _who _was it?

"You are to come with us," said the voice from behind me again. "Your flock has already been apprehended. Surrender or die." How many times had I heard those words before? Yet every time, they still made my heart rate speed up a couple notches.

Again, I tried to throw his arm off of me, and I almost did it. I was about to wriggle free triumphantly until I felt the cold metal of a gun against my head. I froze. I think I forgot to keep breathing for a second.

"Surrender or die," the attacker repeated.

"_Get off her!" _Fang had woken up, and he looked like he was out for blood. His eyes were cold and furious, and he was focused on getting towards me. He had managed to stand, but his captor was holding both of his arms extremely tightly. Whoever was holding him was too strong even for Fang, though, and he wasn't getting anywhere. Our eyes meant, and a silent message flowed between us.

We're dead.

The mystery person took his hand off of my mouth, and just in time, because I was beginning to feel lightheaded from lack of air. I took the chance to spit out, "If you think I'm going to surrender, no one must have told you about me. I don't normally…what's the phrase? Oh yeah – _come quietly._"

"If you do not surrender," the person said, pressing the gun barrel harder into my head, "I will pull this trigger. If you choose death over life, then the rest of your flock will die as well. Itex knows the flock is useless without its leader."

Well, those options pretty much stunk. Die and have the rest of my flock die because of my decision? Or live and be tortured/killed for the rest of my life? If it was only me that I was deciding for, my choice would be pretty obvious. I'd rather die than go back to the School. But since it wasn't…

There was pretty much only one thing that I could do.

I closed my eyes. These words had never, _ever, _left my mouth before. I had to steel myself to say them. "Okay," I said finally. "I'll come quietly."

I was hauled to my feet roughly. I could barely see Angel's hands being forced behind her roughly and tied together with a length of cord. She cried out for a second, and then was quiet. Her eyes looked at me as if to say, _how'd you let this happen, Max? _

_I'm sorry, Angel, _I thought to her. _We'll get out of this. I promise. Don't we always? _I didn't hear another thought from her, but I saw her shoulders straighten just the tiniest bit.

I felt a feather light touch on my arm and slid my eyes to the right without turning my head. Iggy was next to me, his hands already bound. "Sorry," he whispered so quietly I could hardly hear it. "It was my watch. This is my fault."

"Couldn't you hear it?" I whispered back, trying to keep the accusation out of my voice. God knew it wouldn't help anything.

"Not a thing," he whispered back, his lips barely moving. "It was like they materialized out of thin air."

"Be quiet," said Iggy's captor, giving him enough of a shove to make him stumble. How the _h _did he hear Iggy? "You don't need to talk." They moved us forward, and in the sudden circle of light from the fire, I could see what had gotten the best of us. They looked human enough, and all of them were men (surprise) with dark hair and black eyes void of emotion. What was the catch here? How did Iggy not hear them coming if they were just humans?

…very, very, strong humans who somehow managed to keep me in a freaking chokehold. Who also looked like bodybuilders to the extreme. I mean, geez, can we say, _lay off the steroids? _

We were forced to march through the forest at a fast pace. It wouldn't have been so bad if a) I hadn't been at gun point, b) we couldn't move any of the branches out of our way because our hands were still tied, so we kept getting annoying cuts and scratches _everywhere _and c) they had remembered to tie our wings together as well, so there was pretty much _nada _chance of escaping. This sucked with a capital _s. _How _did _we get into this? How did they find us again? I had thought that we were safe – well, not exactly _safe, _but at least safer than we had been before.

I suddenly remembered Fang's power with a flash of hope, and then the hope vanished again in a sad little puff. The last time he had gotten us out of danger all together, he'd almost died. So much for that little ray of sunshine. There was still a chance that he could get away himself, but I knew he'd never leave the rest of us, no matter what I told him. I wouldn't have left either. It's just the way we are. Jeb had drilled it into us never to split up. The one time that we actually had, the situation had been….a little shaky, but I wonder if Fang still would have left if he hadn't been mad at me from the cave incident. I bet Jeb never expected that.

Then again, with him…well, you never knew.

What seemed like hours later, we finally emerged from the forest, bleeding from various cuts all over and bruised from hits the 'super humans', as I'd dubbed them, had given us when we weren't walking fast enough for their liking. Nudge was sniffling slightly, but one glance at her face showed that she was _mad, _and definitely ready to kick butt. Gazzy had more scratches across his face than I could even count – I guessed that there were more branches at his eye level than mine – but it seemed like he was holding up pretty well, though it looked like he really wanted to cry. Angel looked like she was concentrating on doing a little mind puppet to influence the super humans a little bit to get them to let us go. I hoped to God they weren't immune to her powers, but knowing our luck, they probably were.

I was so busy checking up on my flock that I hardly noticed where we were heading now. We weren't totally out of the forest – just in a clearing. It was like somebody had cut out a circle in the middle of the forest and then forgot about it. I figured out pretty quickly why we were there, though.

The circle was just big enough for a helicopter to fit comfortably, and one was dropping down on us now.

I automatically started planning escape routes, ways to get the cords off of our wings and fly away without being shot. So what if he said we would all die if we tried to escape? If we didn't try to escape, we were going to die anyway, so there was basically no point in _not _trying.

God, this _sucked. _

The chopper came down lower, and the wind started whipping chunks of hair across my face, and I had to keep spitting pieces out. I couldn't sweep it out of my face since my hands were tied, and it was starting to obscure my vision. Maximum Ride was about to lose the chance to escape because of her _hair. _My _hair! _Are you (insert dirty swear word of your choice here) _kidding _me?!

As the helicopter touched down, we were herded across the small clearing to the entrance. I was pushed up a short flight of steps, and the gun was now in the small of my back at the base of my spine – if he shot now, it would definitely kill me. The rest of the flock was shoved in behind me, and they made us lay on the ground of the helicopter. It was driven by – surprise – yet more of the things that had captured us, so no chance of anything there. These things were tougher than Erasers, and that was _not _going to work out well for us.

There was a door between us and the pilots and the rest of the super humans, and they quickly shut it. The next thing I heard was a hissing noise, and then I passed out.

**00000**

When I woke up again, I was being shaken roughly awake. The first thing I noticed before I opened my eyes was that my hands and wings were no longer tied. The second thing that I noticed was the smell – that mixture of formaldehyde and disinfectant that could only mean one thing – the School.

I opened my eyes and saw that one of the super humans was standing in front of me. This was the first time I had gotten to see one up close in the light, and I noticed that his face looked rough and strange. It wasn't patched together, but there was something _missing _from his eyes. I couldn't put my finger on it, but it was really unnerving, and I turned my face away.

"Ugh," I said, scrunching up my nose in mock disgust. "You have the _worst _morning breath, you know that?" I took the chance to quickly analyze where I was. It looked and smelled like your standard, white lab, which made all my senses pop onto red alert. My flock was nowhere to be found – it looked like it was just me, myself, and I. Oh, yeah, and Little Boy Blue over here, who was currently trying to get my attention.

"You have been requested to come before the Director," he said in that weird deep voice. "Come with me."

I rolled my eyes. "Same old, same old. How about _you_ run off to Mommy to go pick dandelions and _I'll _stay here?"

"Come with me," he repeated. "Your flock has already arrived. If you wish to see them, you must follow me." Well, there was a chance that I couldn't pass up. I could always get rid of the super guy over here and find my flock if he was lying – he wasn't carrying a gun. Mistake number one.

I yawned. "Alrighty, I'll come with you. But this better be good, okay?" Sadly, he was immune to my sarcasm. Shame. He just leaned away from me (finally), spun on his heel, and headed for the door, leaving me to follow him.

I vaulted off the table I was on and immediately realized that was a bad idea. My head swam and I staggered, probably from the gas after effects. The room spun for a few moments before I could stand straight again, and I had to blink a few times to clear my vision. The super human was standing at the now open doorway, waiting for me. I stalked toward him, trying to muster what dignity I had left from almost falling. "Well, lead the way, Sparky," I said innocently. He just looked at me and turned left out of the doorway.

I sighed. I could already feel the beginnings of a headache coming on, which was _not _a good sign.

The super human led me through a maze of hallways and corridors until we came to an important looking room labeled _Conference – Authorized Personnel Only. _Yeah – this was definitely the right place. He opened the door to show a huge, really long table smack dab in the middle of the room, a projector screen, and five worried bird kid faces staring up at me.

"Max!" Angel and Nudge shouted together.

I had barely caught a glimpse of them before I was enveloped in a pair of black sleeved arms so tightly I could hardly breathe and someone kissed the top of my head quickly. "Hi, Fang," I said quietly, hugging him back to let him know I was alright. Then I coughed and said a little louder, "Um, can I breathe now?"

The pressure on my torso relaxed and I saw Fang step back from me, his usual impassive look fixed back in place. He looked at me calmly, but I could tell from the tension in his jaw that he had been really, really worried. I heard a door slam behind me and whirled, but it had just been the super human that had escorted me here leaving.

I rubbed the back of my neck a little awkwardly, glancing around at all of my flock. Angel and Nudge were sitting next to each other on the side farthest away from me, Gazzy had taken a pen and was doodling on the polished table, and Iggy was sitting at the head of the table with his feet propped up, leaned back in the chair with a slight grin on his face. "How long have you guys all been in here?" I asked, directing the question at Fang, but Nudge answered.

"For practically forever! It's probably only been a couple of hours, but we were _so _worried about you Max. They had put all of us in the same room, but you weren't there. We were all nervous – well, Fang wasn't cause he never gets nervous, but he was quieter than usual and his fists kept clenching and he looked like he wanted to punch something-" I glanced at Fang quickly, but he just shrugged, and one corner of his mouth came up for a split second in a tiny smile. "…and then they brought us in here, and just said, 'Wait here,' and I was like, 'Why should we?', but they didn't answer me. They just left. So then we sat and waited for practically-"

"Forever, you told me," I said, smiling. "And that's where I come in?" She nodded.

"Yeah, pretty much."

"Hey, Max," Gazzy said, grinning, "guess what Nudge found out? This room's been used before, and so when she touched the chair, she found out that there's a lady that sits here that picks her nose when she thinks that there's no one looking!" I refrained from rolling my eyes. That was _such _an eight year old thing to be amused by.

"That's…great, Gazzy," I said hesitantly. Fang smirked at me.

"But Max, really, do you know what else I found out?" Nudge asked, a more serious tone to her voice now. "They use this room to decide the fate of all the experiments. That's why they call it the conference room. If we're in here, don't you think that's what they're going to do? Do you think that we're here to have our fate decided?"

I scanned the room for cameras or speakers out of habit before I answered her. "There's probably a chance for it," I answered reluctantly, not wanting to worry Gazzy and Angel too much. "It could have just been a convenient room, though." Ten to one said that Nudge was right, and we were about to find out whether we were fit to die or live.

"But, wait, there's more," Nudge continued, and I could tell she was getting to what she had really been wanting to tell me. "I touched Iggy's chair, and there's someone really, really important that sits there." She stopped, looking at me almost as if she was the one that had done something wrong.

"Well?" I asked her. "Who is it?"

She hesitated, but just then the door swung open. I turned. It was Little Boy Blue back again, but this time he wasn't by himself. His eyes landed on me and he paused in the doorway for a second, before a commanding voice behind him said, "Step aside, Experiment number 4. Come on, now, I said _move_. And after that, you are dismissed."

I froze. I knew that voice…

Marion Janssen, Director of all that is Itex, came through the door. "Nice to see you again, Max," she smirked. "Are you ready for the big day today?"

Oh, snap.


	29. Debates Aren't Just For School

I groaned theatrically, even though on the inside my stomach was churning and my heart rate was speeding up. It was _her _again – my fake mother who had almost wrecked my life with the belief that I was actually related to her. She also had, apparently, arranged something important for today. Joy.

"Big day? Today?" I asked, feigning innocence. "No, I don't think so, somebody forgot to tell me. Oh my gosh – is it prom?"

Her expression changed to one of slight annoyance. Ha. "I see you haven't changed a bit," she said in her classic clipped tone.

I raised an eyebrow. "Neither have you. Same drab fashion sense, I see. Such a waste – do you know what you could do with that figure after you lifted all the wrinkles and frown lines off of it? You keep covering them up with those baggy suits and skirts, don't you want to-"

"Shut up," she snapped, her fake control already gone. "We have things to do, and _you're _going to be our guests of honor. I don't suppose that you remember the Chinese scientists that you met?"

"Aren't the ones that wanted to use us as weapons?" Nudge piped up. Fang glanced at me, and I remembered that he hadn't been there for that.

The Director looked at Nudge and frowned. She obviously hadn't expected her to speak. "Yes, those are the ones," she replied after awhile. "They will be here today. They are still interested in the three females and perhaps the other half of you as well. There's no need for one half of you to escape looking for the other half, is there?" She smiled thinly, but it didn't even come close to reaching her eyes. Witch.

"Well," Nudge started, but I glanced at her to stop her from saying something that could hurt us somehow.

"We don't have time for idle chatting," the Director continued, narrowing her eyes at me like _I _was the one that was going to try to destroy the world. She obviously had things backwards. "Everyone will be arriving here shortly."

"Wait, everyone?" I blurted out. "What's going on?" All my senses cranked up one more notch, sending me into hyper awareness. Whenever someone from Itex says those words, chances are that something really bad is going to happen. Like, worse than normal bad.

"I'm holding a debate," she said, her tone ice cold. "This nonsense has gone on for far too long. You need to be either exterminated or kept prisoner until you are convenient. There will be no more freedom. You must be reined in."

Hate surged through me, but I managed not to jump up and punch her lights out. It wouldn't do us any good. My fists clenched and unclenched, itching to be wrapped around her neck. "I knew we should have let you drop," I said through gritted teeth.

"Quiet!" she commanded, her own temper flaring. She tried to calm herself by taking a long, slow breath, but it obviously wasn't working. "Get up from the table," she said in a low voice that sounded even angrier than the one she'd used before. "Now."

"Why?" I asked cheekily. "We're so comfy here."

"Because _humans _need those seats," she answered me, her eyes narrowing into slits. Nudge and Angel looked at me in unison, identical looks of mixed anger and hurt on their faces. You know how on those TV shows, when the busty girl says, "Oh, no she _didn't?" _Even though I would never say that, this was definitely one of those moments.

"I'm sorry," I said, just as coldly, nearly shaking with rage. "But I don't see any humans in here besides my flock."

A red flush burned her cheeks. "Get out of the chairs," she ordered again.

"No."

She opened her mouth, and then closed it again, looking smug. She went on to say, "Stay here. Do not try to escape or you _will _be killed, debate or no debate." She stalked out of the door, and I could see that the back of her neck was red with anger. The door slammed behind her, leaving us with silence.

No one spoke for a second before Iggy broke the quiet with, "Well, _that _went perfectly."

I glared at him, hating again the fact that he couldn't see it. I opened my mouth to tell him exactly what I was thinking when the door opened again. More of the super humans poured inside – six…eight…twelve…_twenty. _All of this for six little mutant bird kids? They really must not want us to escape.

In unison, six of them lined themselves up behind our chairs. I guessed what was coming and tried to throw myself under the table, but the stupid thing caught me underneath my shoulders and hauled me out of the seat, apparently not caring that he was gripping my arms so tightly I could almost hear the tendons being squeezed. I could see glimpses of my flock being lifted up and out too, and could hear them struggling against the hold. I kicked my holder repeatedly. Why the heck wasn't he letting up? Those kicks should have cracked the kneecaps of an Eraser. These super humans were pretty obviously built tons tougher. Lucky us.

Then, with no warning, he dropped me, and my head cracked against the wall. I saw stars, and blinked my eyes rapidly to try and get my sight back again. Fang and Iggy were dumped next to me, and I could see Nudge, Gazzy, and Angel across the room. Gazzy's eyes met mine, and I could tell that even though he was trying to be brave, he was scared. We all were scared.

Once again at the same time, the super humans produced gags out of – well, somewhere – and tied them around our mouths without much difficulty, even though we were fighting against them tooth and nail. No matter how many punches I landed on them or how many scratches Nudge raked into one with her nails, they didn't seem to feel any of it. The gags were forced into our mouths and tied tightly. Mine was so tight that it was impossible to breathe through my mouth without gagging. _I guess that's the point, _I thought, rolling mental eyes. _Ha ha. I don't see the humor. _

I was also really antsy. I wanted to get out of here _now _while the Director was gone, but there was no way that we could take twenty of those super human things. We'd be eaten alive – probably _literally _if they were as bad as Erasers.

"Yes, this room here," I could hear the Director say in an overly important voice. Her voice was muffled through the door. I tensed. She was obviously bringing back people. "Oh, Maria, I _love _those shoes…Yes, feel free to sit anywhere." It was all I could do not to gag at how much she was sucking up. Puh-lease.

A long line of men and women in fancy suits or skirts filed in to the room. Most of them were eying us like we were something tasty to be eaten. The few who weren't staring apparently decided we weren't worth the time of day, and barely glanced at us. All of them looked like they had some major sticks up their butts. I could spot the Chinese scientists – they were among the people staring – and other people that were definitely not from the U.S.

Marian Janssen came in last, a fake smile plastered on her face. Her eyes flicked toward me for a split second, and I swore I saw a flash of smugness at the sight of me on the floor. At that moment, if I looked into the Mirror of Erised like in _Harry Potter, _I swear that I would see her dead. Well, okay, not _dead. _But suffering in some way.

Marian took her place at the head of the table, nearest to the projector screen. The fake smile was still stretching her face. It hurt me to watch her. She looked like a less busty Barbie smiling like that, seriously. "Welcome," she said in a sugar sweet voice that matched her smile. "You – the Directors of all the major Itexes – have come here today to decide the fate of what were once our most important experiments." She glanced at Angel quickly, and I frowned, wondering what was going through her head.

"I present to you," she said to the assembled goody goodies, "a video of these failed experiments. Watch closely." She clicked a remote, and the lights dimmed. One more click, and the projector screen rolled down and lit up. The people shifted to get a better view, and one lady moved her chair right in front of me. I tried to sigh in exasperation, but it was hard with the gag. So much for seeing whatever video she was going to show.

Even though I couldn't see it, I could hear the video start. I could hear echoing sounds of a fight going on, and then I heard my voice. "_Get them out of here!" _my voice yelled. Then it clicked, and I realized what they were viewing. The echoing, the fight sounds – they were watching the sewer fight. The fight where I had killed Ari.

I felt suddenly sick, and was glad that I couldn't see the screen.

I could feel Fang turn to look at me, and I cocked my head slightly so that I could see him out of the corner of my eye. He was looking at me with as much concern as Fang does, and I knew that he had recognized what they were watching too. _Are you okay? _He asked me with his eyes. I tried to let the corner of my mouth droop as much as it could with the gag. He could take that as whatever he wanted.

It was right then that I heard it – the stomach turning _crack _that meant I had just broken Ari's neck. I blocked out Ari's strangled whisper – hearing it once was enough. I closed my eyes briefly and took a long, deep breath. It only helped to ease about a millionth of the tension that was coiling my muscles, cramped in a sitting position against the wall. I opened my eyes again, and immediately looked over at my little kids. Angel and Gazzy were staring at the screen, eyes wide, and I realized what they had just watched all over again – their leader, mother stand in, Max, killing who was supposed to be –

"_You killed your own brother!" _yelled Jeb on the projector.

Right on cue.

But Nudge wasn't watching the projector screen. She was watching me, her big brown eyes locked on to mine. I could tell that she was trying to reassure me, and I felt horrible that _she _was the one trying to reassure _me _that it would be okay.

Finally, _finally, _the clip ended. It couldn't have happened sooner. The woman in front of me shifted her chair again, and I could see Itex's logo on the screen now. The lights came back on, and Marian stood back up.

"Now, let's open the debate," she said. "It is open to anyone who wishes to participate."

"Excuse me," said a man with a heavy Russian accent. "Could I ask just one question before we start?"

"Of course," the Director said. Her tone was so nice I rolled my eyes. That was so obviously fake.

"What are these guards that you have here?" he asked, his voice interested. "I've never seen anything like them."

"Ah," she said, and I could tell that she had been hoping someone would ask. "Those are our latest achievements. We call them Animins, a combination of the Latin words _animus _and _minor." _

All of the scientists in the room stirred and began talking amongst themselves excitedly. Obviously these words meant something to them, but to me, the bird kid who never _learned _Latin, they were all gibberish to me.

"Do you mean to say-" began a woman in an English accent.

"Yes," Marian said proudly. "We have succeeded in locating the soul and removing it from the body."

My stomach dropped out from my body and my blood ran cold. It made sense now, that deadened look that I had seen in Little Boy Blue's eyes and Jeb's words at Mom's, back when he had told me that we were the only mutants left with souls. He really had meant that literally. It wasn't that the new experiments were stupid or even just cruel. They didn't even have _souls_.

Fang and I looked at each other in shock. This was way low, even for Itex. It made me wonder. What would it be like, to be alive without a soul?

"Now," the Director started again. "If we could begin the debate…"

"I, for one, think that they should be terminated immediately," said the Russian man, and I made a mental note that he was on the _extra bad _side of Itex.

"Are you insane?" said a woman with an American accent. Her voice sounded way too familiar. I craned my neck and saw with a jolt that it was Anne – looking extremely official and worried for our sake. It was probably an act. "We can't just _terminate _them, there's so much that we can learn – and you do realize that we're talking about their fate right in front of them?" I blinked in surprise. I hadn't thought that she would actually care about that. A quick glance at Iggy and Fang showed that they felt the same shock.

"And exactly what can we learn?" asked the Russian man again. "We already know from reading the reports that they resist experimentation; they openly mock the scientists; what more do you want me to say?"

"It doesn't mean that we should _kill _them!" Anne exclaimed. "Let them go, what harm are they going to do? I could monitor them!" Whoa, whoa, whoa, lady, hold up. We're not going _anywhere _with you. Not after last time.

"I, for one, agree with Anne," said the woman with an English accent.

"_Thank _you," said Anne, leaning back in her seat as if that settled everything.

"But," the woman continued. "I don't think that they should be released, or that Anne should be their sole monitor. I think that they should be kept alive at the England Itex branch."

"I believe that you're mistaken," said yet another man coldly. He had no accent, but he was obviously Asian. "They should be immediately terminated. And Anne, if I may be so bold, the last experiment at your home did not exactly go as planned." Anne's face flushed, and she shrank back into her chair looking pretty ashamed. I wasn't sure how I felt about that. On the one hand, she was sticking up for us living, which, you know, I was all for. On the other hand, she was probably all set up to betray us back to the School.

Choices, choices.

"Couldn't we just dissect them all and end this nonsense?" asked the Russian man. "This is ludicrous, honestly. Why are we even taking in to consideration the feelings of experiments?"

Marian stood. "I think it is time to escort said experiments out," she said, glancing our way. She clapped her hands twice, and the Animins hauled us to our feet and practically dragged us to the door. The faces of all the directors followed us in unison as, one by one, we were tossed out into the hallway. The door slammed behind us, and sadly, the six Animins didn't leave. So much for being able to untie our gags.

_**Max. Do it now. Kill Fang. It would be easy…just reaching out. A well placed kick or punch would end it forever. **_It was that voice, back again. And, to my horror, I could see it for a split second – my hands closing around Fang's throat. I shuddered violently away from it mentally. No. No, no, no. There was absolutely no way.

But how much more could I take of this?

I could tell that this was going to be the longest few minutes – or hours - of my life.

**Marian's POV**

"The debate is now closed," she said imperiously, standing from her chair. "It is now time to take a vote." She surveyed the Directors with varying degrees of interest. "All in favor of exterminating the avians, please raise your hand."

One by one, several hands around the table rose. There was hardly a need to count them. They were quite obviously in the minority. Gorbachov, the Russian Director, had obviously voted for this option. His red, pudgy face was livid as he viewed that he had not won the vote. She allowed herself a brief flash of satisfaction before returning her focus to the task at hand.

"Those for keeping them for experimentation?" More hands were raised. There were slightly more than the hands raised for termination, but still not a majority. A surge of anger swept through her. She had been counting on that! She had specifically influenced the English, Australian, and Japanese Directors to vote for this option, among others, and yet it still had not won. She fought to keep composure. Control. She must be in control.

"And those," - she fought to keep to keep her voice steady and anger-free – "that believe they should be released and monitored?"

Hands went up. Marian counted, her anger growing with each hand. Twenty. Twenty people believed that the flock should be released. It wasn't right. How could this have happened?

"Fine," she said, her teeth beginning to grind. "The flock shall be released."

_But not for long. Not if I can help it. _

**A/N: A HUGE thank you to all who have stuck by me in my slow updating. I apologize profusely. I throw myself at your feet. I PLEAD with you to review!!**

**Look, I even gave you a seven page chapter! It's extra long!**


	30. Mood Swings

We had to get out of here. I didn't know how much longer my sanity could take this.

It was the day after the debate from hell. We still didn't know what they had decided, and everyone's nerves were stretched to the breaking point. After it was over and everyone had left the room, more of the super humans 'escorted' us back to our fancy schmancy room – which was basically a small lab with no windows, an antiseptic smell, and seven dog crates. Guess where we were sleeping that night?

Yeah. You guessed right. Cage sweet cage.

It brought back so many bad memories that I almost couldn't function. It was nuts. At the beginning, Angel had cried a little, but then she got really quiet. Total and Nudge had chattered nervously to fill the silence left by everyone else, but when no one answered their random questions, they had gotten quiet too. Nudge kept biting down on her lip with a terrified look in her eyes. I was afraid that she would bite clear through it soon.

Gazzy didn't even say anything, just lay down in a corner of his too-small cage and stared out at the rest of us. Then there was Iggy and Fang. Iggy just slept on and off. I don't think he wanted to face the reality of what might happen. Fang leaned against one wall of his cage and locked his hands around his knees. He'd been in the same position ever since, only communicating in small glances with me. His eyes were dark and unfathomable. Not a wisp of emotion was there.

Obviously, I didn't sleep a wink that night. It didn't help that my cage was as uncomfortable as anything. It seemed like every single time I touched it, it pricked me.

We were most likely dead meat. We all knew that, deep down. But there was no way I was going down without a fight.

Anyway, I was saying that it was the next day. The door opened, and a mousy looking whitecoat came in. He couldn't have been more than, say, twenty one, twenty two. His eyes slid over us, huddled in our cages, and seemed to draw some confidence from the fact that we were locked up. He straightened his back and stuck his head back out of the door. "Animins, enter," he commanded. I groaned mentally. I almost would have been _happy _to see an Eraser or Flyboy at this point.

The hulking super humans (I still couldn't get that nick name out of my head), only two this time, shuffled into the room. Their cold, emotionless eyes locked onto us, making me shudder. Those eyes still really creeped me out. I thought _Fang_ showed no emotion – he was _nothing_ compared to these things. It was really frightening.

I tore my gaze away from their eyes and noticed that the second one was standing next to a huge cart that we would probably be loaded onto. I winced, wondering where they were taking us. I'd already checked out the door of my cage, and there was no way that I was busting out of this thing. They had modified the cage so that it was padlocked instead of a normal lock, and I could see that they had reinforced the metal. They obviously didn't want us to break out of the cages. They were getting smarter. Pity.

One by one, we were swung up on the cart and dropped down with a jolt that hurt every bone in my body. Nudge was dropped next to me, and I could see her wince as her face hit the side of her cage. A wave of fury washed over me. Those sick, no good, dirty, rotten –

My mental swearing was interrupted by the abrupt movement of the cart. It only took one super human/Animin to push us along the corridor. You guys all know that we're light, yeah. But all together, we're pretty heavy. We're talking hundreds of pounds. This guy was pushing us along like the cart was empty.

Dang, he was strong.

I couldn't crane my neck enough in the cage to see where the whitecoat had gone, but I could hear his footsteps close by. I knew he was still there. _Well, Jeb, _I thought in a last ditch attempt at some sort of plan. _Any tips? If you want me to get out of this alive, you better start talking. Like, now. _

_**Max, I…I don't know. They've locked me out. **_

_What?! _I exclaimed mentally. _Oh, what a perfect time to get yourself locked out of the system. What the heck did you _do?

_**I didn't DO anything, **_he argued. _**They're suspicious of me. They know I'm your father – **_I winced. I hated being reminded of that – _**and they want to make sure that I don't pull any tricks. It's just a precaution, and a smart one at that. I would have done anything to help. **_

_Well, that's good to know, _I said sarcastically, too keyed up to be 'touched' that he would help. _But it's not helping me. _

He didn't say anything more.

I looked up and blinked with shock. They were taking us toward the doors. The _exit. _This was almost better than I'd hoped for! My heart leaped, but then I beat it back down. This was impossible. They were practically handing us an escape plan. What were they doing that for? Unless they were going to make us somebody's new chew toy, nothing good could possibly come out of this.

The doors slid open automatically with a _whoosh, _and the sudden sunlight burned my eyes. I squeezed them shut instantly, but forced them open a crack to see where we were. It didn't look like there were any other living beings out here, except for the whitecoat and the Animins behind us. My vision was limited from the cage, though, and it was so _frustrating! _

When we got to the middle of the open square, the cart stopped with a jerk. Before I knew it, the whitecoat had come around to my side of the cart and began to unlock my cart. I exchanged a glance with Fang and tensed, ready to burst out of the cage and knock this guy flat. Not…yet…the white coat finished unlocking my cage and started to put the key back in his pocket.

Now!

I exploded out of my cage with all the force of a herd of stampeding horses. The poor, breakable human didn't stand a chance. I didn't even get to throw more than one punch before he was down like a stone. I snatched the key from his hand and set to work unlocking Fang's cage. I had to keep glancing over my shoulder at the Animins. They weren't moving. They were just…standing there. It was way weird.

I finally unlocked the cage and dashed over to Angel. "Fly!" I ordered Fang. "Get out of here!"

He just looked at me and decided to stay on the ground. "I'm waiting for you," he said obstinately. "When you leave, I leave."

"Fang-" I started, then shook my head furiously and finished unlocking Angel's cage. "I will talk with you _later. _Go, Angel, fly!" I lifted her out of her cage and on to the ground. She took a few steps and leaped into the air, flaring out her pure white wings to catch the air.

As I moved onto Gazzy, the Animins finally decided to catch on. The one that had been pushing the cart started to advance toward me, but Fang stepped in his way. They started to stare each other down, each waiting for an opening when the other slipped. I had to hurry.

I got Gazzy and Iggy's cages open in record speed, and they launched themselves into the air with no running start at all. Now there was just Nudge. I chanced a glance over my shoulder at Fang. It hadn't come to blows yet, but I had no doubt that it would unless I went fast, fast, _fast. _

"Come on, come on," I muttered. Of course, _now _of all times, the lock had to catch. I heard the sick sound of flesh on flesh behind me and whirled. Fang was trying not to double over, probably from a punch that the super human had landed on him. The super human was coming back for another punch. I had to _go. _I wrenched the lock open with all my strength and _threw _Nudge out of the cage.

"Fang, let's _go!" _I shouted at him. I darted forwards and yanked him away just as the super human swung again. The punch meant for him landed on my side, and it felt like a couple of ribs cracked. I bit my lip hard enough to draw blood, trying not to cry out. Ow, ow, _ow! _That had hurt. Fang _so _owed me for that one. If he had just left like I'd said…

Coughing, I took off into the air a split second after Fang did. He hovered thirty feet up just long enough for me to pull even with him, and then we poured on the speed to get up into the air high above, where the flock was waiting for us.

"You – are so – _stupid," _I panted as we sped up. "Why didn't you just _go? _I would have been fine, and now we're both hurt."

"I had to stay," he muttered back, and wouldn't say anything else. I rolled my eyes angrily but shut up.

"Go, guys, now," I said as soon as I reached them. "We need to get out of here. Who knows how much time we have before Itex brings out the helicopters to find us?" I hated saying the worst case scenario, but it worked. Everyone shot off like rockets. I noticed that Iggy was holding Total, and did a double take. I didn't even remember unlocking his cage.

We flew for a few miles in silence before Nudge couldn't take it anymore and started chattering away to Angel. I used the sound of her endless words to talk to Fang. "We were way too lucky back there," I told him in an undertone. "What do you think?"

He thought for a moment, staring straight ahead. "Trap," he said finally. "There's got to be something."

I nodded. "That's what I thought. But what were we supposed to do, just stand around like idiots in that courtyard? Um, no thanks."

"Thanks for that, by the way," he said quietly.

I blinked. "For…what, now?"

"For pulling me out of the way," he replied. "Those guys are strong. There's no way I would have lasted more than a few punches."

I smiled. "Yeah, well, you freaking owe me. My ribs are super sore."

His mouth quirked up in a smile. "How badly are _you _hurt?" I asked him.

His face immediately shut down. "I'm not."

"Liar. I _saw _him land a punch on you. So what's wrong?"

"Nothing."

I glared at him. "You seriously need to quit the whole macho business. Getting hurt is not a big deal."

No answer. Whatever.

I tipped one wing down and surged away from Fang to slightly to the left of the flock, where I could see all of them at a glance. I sighed. Together again, somehow. The miracles just kept coming. It seemed like our life was just a series of lucky moments. It made me wonder when the luck was going to run out.

_**Soon, if you don't DO AS I SAY. **_

_Hello, Voice II, _I said without enthusiasm, trying to mask the fact that my heart had just dropped into my feet. _What should I do for you today? Oh, wait, wait! Let me guess. Kill Fang. _

_**He's putting you in jeopardy. He must die. **_

_You are such a liar! You make me sick. Give me one good reason why I should trust you and do what you want. I am NOT killing Fang. Get it through your head already!_

_**Max, listen. Kill Fang. Kill Fang now. Do it now. Do it now. Do it now. **_It felt like the voice was pounding at my head with each word, sending my stress levels up through the roof. To top it all off, I had a killer headache. That was just what I needed now.

_I will NOT kill him! Get that through your head already!_

_**You get this through YOUR head. You will kill him, and you will do it now. **_It sent me a mental image of my hands locked around Fang's neck, choking him slowly, the life fading from his dark eyes.

"Max?"

"_WHAT?" _I exploded. "What is it? You need me to save something again? Well, I don't want to! Leave me _alone!" _I looked up. It was Fang who had spoken. I could see the last traces of shock fading from his eyes, replaced by anger. His eyes narrowed.

"Fine," he retorted. "The next time _you _need saving, I won't bother."

"See if I care," I snapped back. Then I looked past him to the rest of the flock. They were flying slowly now, each face an identical mask of shock. Even Total's doggy face seemed to be in complete surprise.

"Land," I managed to choke out, and streaked towards the ground.

Already I could feel the anger drain out of my body, replaced by shock. What was _that _about? I hadn't been mad at Fang. I hadn't been mad at anyone except for my second voice. And since I had been mad and frustrated with it…I guess I lashed out at Fang.

Great. Just great.

Then I realized another thing that absolutely knocked the breath out of me. I swear my heart stopped beating for a second. If that second voice could make me lash out at someone I wasn't even mad at – just for saying my _name – _what else could it make me do?

Kill someone?

I couldn't do that. I couldn't let that happen. I had to do something.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

Camp that night was awkward. The flock kept stealing glances at me when they thought I wasn't looking, like they were waiting for me to blow up again. I was a scary kind of calm, trying overly hard to be nice and not sarcastic or anything. I could tell that they saw right through me, though. I must not be a very good actress. Well, that stinks.

It was when Fang woke me up that night to take my watch that I decided to say something. I didn't want Fang mad at me.

"Your watch," he grunted, and turned his back on me.

"Wait, Fang," I whispered. "Can you give me one second?"

He turned back around, one eyebrow raised. "What do you want, Max? To yell at me for saying your name?"

"No," I replied. Ugh. I hated, hated, _hated _doing this. This really hurt my ego. "I wanted…to say…sorry?"

His eyes widened. "Wow, I neverthought that I would hear _that_ out of your mouth."

"Shut up or I'll take it back," I threatened. "I am, though. Sorry."

He squinted at me, drawing out this moment as long as possible. I fidgeted and tried to bite back everything that I wanted to say. "Okay," he finally decided. "I'll forgive you, then."

"It wasn't your fault," I admitted. "It was just the…the voice. Bugging me again."

"The first or second voice?" he asked immediately, coming back to sit next to me.

I made a split second decision – one of the kinds that are either brilliant or stupid. "I think the second one's gone. It's just Jeb in my head now. He won't freaking go away."

"How do you know it's gone?" Fang asked me suspiciously. "Maybe it's just quiet."

"No, it's gone," I insisted in an undertone. He couldn't know that I was lying, so I kept my eyes straight ahead. If I looked at him, he would know. "I can tell."

Why was I lying to him, you ask? Simple. There were two choices – tell Fang that the second voice was still there and have him badger me about what it was saying, which I was _not _going to tell him, or lie. Guess which one I chose.

We sat in silence for awhile, until I remembered something. "How badly did that thing hurt you, anyway?"

He glared at me. "You have to know, don't you?"

I just looked at him, then made my gaze soften. "Maybe not…" I trailed off, leaning closer. I could see a crease start to form in the middle of his eyebrows as he probably wondered what I was doing. Before he could figure it out, I closed the distance between our faces and kissed him.

He responded without thinking, twining his fingers through my hair to hold my face to his. I inhaled deeply. Big mistake. His scent was so intoxicating I almost forgot what I was supposed to be doing. I kissed him harder and let my hand wander to the edge of his shirt. Letting my fingers rest there for a moment, I yanked the edge up fast and pulled away.

I sucked my breath in. There was a huge bruise starting to form on his stomach, a splotchy purple and blue. I looked up at him. He was glaring at me again. "You fight dirty," he said. "That was cheating."

"You enjoyed it," I said offhandedly, examining the bruise closer. "Jesus, Fang, what did he _do?" _

"So he landed one good punch," he said defensively. "No big deal."

"No big deal? Fang, look at this thing!" I looked at him incredulously.

He was smirking now. "You know, it's actually pretty funny when you're all worried about me."

I touched his bruise with the slightest pressure, and I could feel him tense. "Oh, yeah. No big deal, huh?" He just looked at me.

I shook my head. "Go to sleep, Fang. You need rest. I know you didn't sleep at all last night."

"Neither of us did," he replied, kissing my cheek before he stood. "Make sure to wake Iggy up. Don't take two watches."

I saluted him lazily with two fingers. "Got it."

As soon as he was asleep, I sighed and leaned back against the tree. I didn't know what had let the second voice make me snap like that, but I didn't want to let it happen again. The bad thing was, I didn't know how to prevent it. As much as I hated to admit it, I was scared. Freaked. This thing could practically take control of my mind if it did enough.

I wrapped my arms around my knees and stared up at the stars through the trees. What was _happening _to me?

**A/N: For all of you who still read this story, I have a gift for you! –throws confetti- Because I know I'm horrible, you are EXTRA special if you still take the time to read this. So, for all who review on this chapter, I'll give you a sneak peek at both the next chapter and at a later chapter in the story! **


	31. Confessions

**A/N: BAM. Fastest update in…a very long time, for me. That's so sad. It would have been two weeks ago, but school started. –exasperated sigh- **

So, in case you were wondering, the next day didn't go any better. Actually, it sucked. Big time. Things were better with Fang, thankfully. But things with my second voice were getting _worse. _Much, much worse. I didn't have a moment to myself anymore. More than anything, I just wanted to be in my head, _by myself. _

Even though at the moment, we were flying again, it did nothing to improve my mood.

"Max?" Nudge asked. I forced myself to be calm. I was on the edge constantly today, and I could tell that the slightest thing would set me off. I took several deep breaths before I answered.

"Yeah, Nudge? What's up?"

"What are we gonna do now? I mean, we've just been flying all day. Where are we going? Do we have another plan? What if Itex comes looking for us? I'm really confused, and…well, I guess…a little nervous." She looked ashamed, as if being nervous was one of the seven deadly sins or something.

I hesitated. I didn't really have a real answer for that – for any of that. "Well…where do you want to go, Nudge?" I replied. "I'm pretty much open for anything."

She bit her lip. "It's just…can we just stop, for awhile? I mean, we're kind of tired, and Itex caught us just a few days ago, and we've been through so much in the last few days, and…can we just rest?"

I sighed. Tempting as it was to say yes to her, I knew – _knew _– that we had to keep moving. Itex could be right behind us. Like she'd said, we _had _just escaped a few days ago. Two, actually. It wasn't safe to stop right now. Not when we had just gotten away.

_**I have two words for you. **_

And that right there made up my mind.

"Okay, Nudge," I told her. "We'll stop. Land, guys!" I yelled back so that everyone else could hear me.

Why did I decide to stop, you ask? I was pretty sure that I would _drop _out of the sky of my own free will if that voice kept nagging me.

I made a huge circle, scanning for a good place to touch down. I scanned the trees and zoomed in on a spot below us. It looked like a pretty deserted place, and I tucked my wings in and dropped toward it.

The adrenaline rush was incredible. It was reckless, and Fang would probably kill me later, but _whatever. _It was so worth it just to feel the wind rushing past my face, making my eyes stream. Fifty feet from the ground, I snapped my wings out and jerked to a halt. I winced as my wings were yanked upward, but I didn't splat on the ground, so I would take that pain over death any day.

I touched down gently and tucked my warm wings in against my body. As I glanced up at the sky, I could make out five shapes coasting down out of the sky to meet me. Fang was first to touch down and immediately started towards me. "So did you decide not to kill yourself at the last minute or something?" he asked offhandedly, but I could tell just from looking at him that he had been scared, and more than a little angry.

"Yeah," I said, going along with it as Nudge and the Gasman touched down. "You know, just to see your ugly face again."

_**Max. Kill him now. **_

I closed my eyes in weary pain. "Max?" Fang asked. His voice sounded like it was coming to me from far away. "Max, you okay?"

"I'm fine," I managed to get out. "Just…just give me a second."

_**Kill Fang, Max. You have to.**_

_No. I won't do it. _

_**Kill him, Max. **_

_No. _

_**Do it now. **_

_No!_

_**NOW!**_

_No! _Make it go away, make it stop, make it stop, stop, stop…

"_Max!" _Fang was saying. He had my wrists in a steel grip. "Max, snap out of it!"

My eyes snapped open, and I glared at him. "Leave me alone. I'm fine," I spat out, icicles dripping off my words.

"Max, you're not, we can all see it; just tell us what's going on-"

"I said I'm _fine!" _I exploded, wrenching my wrists away. He stood his ground, refusing to look away from my eyes.

"You just keep on lying to yourself," he said quietly. "When you're ready to tell the truth, I'll be here."

I drew in a long, shaky breath, the anger already being replaced by shock. What the _hell _was that? I had done it again! I'd lost control, gotten angry and nearly violent towards the ones that I loved. If I kept this up, everyone I knew was going to hate me.

Actually, maybe that was better. I didn't know. I needed space, time to think. I had to be alone. I looked down at my hands, finally realizing that they hurt. Drawing in a sharp breath of surprise, I saw that four crescent moon shapes each were cut into each palm, oozing drops of blood. I had clenched my fists so hard that I'd cut into my own hands.

"I – I'll be right back," I choked out, and launched myself into the sky before he could say anything. I was a thousand feet up in the blink of an eye. I wanted – needed - to go fast, to feel like I was wiping away all of my problems into the air. I pushed myself faster, cutting through the air as easily as a hot knife through butter. The scenery blurred past me – trees, farmland, water, everything was there and gone in a millisecond. Thoughts raced through my head just as fast, but I couldn't concentrate on any one thing too long before something else occurred to me.

When I finally slowed down enough to get my bearings, I figured I was a hundred, maybe two hundred miles away from my flock. A wave of paranoia washed through me. What if while I was gone they were attacked or ambushed and I wasn't there? Or worse – someone could abduct _me _and they would never know what happened. They would think I left them. I had to get back.

Just as I did a one eighty in the air, Jeb decided to chip in. _**Max…I have something to say. **_I just about jumped a million feet in the air. And yes, you _can _do that while flying, thanks. I would know.

_God, Jeb! You scared the living crap out of me! _

_**Max…listen to me. I…as much as I hate to say this, I have to. **_

I tensed up immediately. _What…? _I asked warningly.

_**It's about the second voice. **_

I felt a wave of relief wash over me. _Oh, great. So what did you find out? It's telling me to kill Fang, Jeb. I won't do that. I can't. _

_**Actually, Max…**_Jeb hesitated. _**I'm starting to wonder whether it's right. **_

I froze in shock. _WHAT did you just say? I thought you were 'on my side', you traitor! I knew it. I knew you were lying to me. I'm not killing Fang. That's FINAL. What the hell is going on? Have you been lying to me all of this time? _My mind was on Nudge mode, spewing anything and everything that went through my head.

_**Max, please keep an open mind, **_he begged. I did my best to tune him out. _**I think he's becoming too attached to you. You might not be able to complete your mission. Think about it, Max…. He could be a hazard.**_

_Are. You. INSANE? _I yelled mentally. I could almost feel him wince. _A hazard how??_

_**Max, he loves you. Even I can see that. He could be viewed as your biggest weakness, and that could be potentially fatal. They would use him to get to you, don't you see? It's the oldest trick in the book. Itex isn't stupid. They've already proved that. Once they see how he feels, neither of you will be safe. **_

_I don't believe you, _I hissed. _So all that 'I love you all like sons and daughters' stuff was all a load of crap? _

_**Max, no, of course not. But I am not related to Fang. You're my only daughter. I just want to keep you safe. **_

_Well, here's a newsflash for you, buster. I'm not killing Fang. I definitely DO NOT and will not EVER view you as my father after what you just said. And guess what? Even if he was my biggest weakness, there's no way that I would even be able to function without Fang. I thought that we already proved that. I was miserable, remember? _Even just thinking about that time hurt.

_**Please just remember what I said. **_

_Oh, I'll remember alright. But there's no way that I'm taking your advice. _With that, I poured on the speed – back to my flock and away from all the pressure that was slowly but surely closing in over my head.

0o0o0o0o0

When I finally skidded to a halt back at our makeshift campsite, the atmosphere was tense, to say the least. Angel was the first to greet me, her entire face lighting up. "Max! Max, you came back!" she cried, leaping from where she lay on the ground and rushing to me.

I hugged her tightly and stroked her hair. It was dirty and matted, but its golden color still shone through. "Of course, I did, sweetie," I replied. "Of course I did."

I glanced at Fang over her head and met his searching gaze. He wanted answers, I knew. I could tell that much from his face. I looked away. Not dealing with that now. I glanced around, taking a quick mental inventory of all my flock. They seemed exactly the same as the last time I'd seen them a few hours ago. I relaxed without even realizing that I'd been tense.

"Alright, guys," I exhaled, struggling to keep all traces of strain out of my voice. "Set up camp, since you were nice enough to leave work for me." That got a few faint smiles. They had been worried about me, and I felt a pang that I had caused them pain. I hated that, knowing that I had been the one to age their faces that much more.

Being on the run is never exactly entertaining – no freaking duh – but that night sucked even worse than usual. I felt like I was in a stupid fishbowl. My entire flock kept sneaking glances at me when they thought I wasn't looking, like I was a time bomb about to explode. Which I guess I was, actually. Huh.

There wasn't a whole ton of talking, either, even from the Nudge channel. Iggy was the only one who wasn't watching me, for obvious reasons, but I could feel that he was tense. Years of living next to him in a cage had honed my ability to read his emotions. For all those reasons – and a ton of little ones, too – I was glad when the rest of the flock eventually dropped off to sleep, one by one.

All except for Fang.

He sat next to me on the ground, wiping his hands free of grease on his jeans. For awhile, we sat in silence, staring out into the trees. Everything was silent except for the occasional cricket. So of course, being me, I had to be the one to mess it up.

"You know, I have first watch," I whispered, staring straight ahead.

"I know," he replied. He was quiet again for a few moments before he finally asked, "Max, what the hell is going on?"

I immediately stiffened. "Nothing. I told you that."

He sighed and leaned his head against a tree. "Stop lying."

"I'm not."

"Max." He finally turned to look at me then. "I've known you all my life. You're my one constant. If you think I can't tell when you're lying to me by now, you really are stupid."

This got me to hesitate. Much as I hated to admit it, he _did _have a point. As always. "So," he continued, "whether you want to tell me or not, I know something is going on."

I didn't answer him for awhile. In the back of my mind, an idea was forming, something to save Fang from myself. "Fang…" I said finally, barely making a sound. I had to make sure of this one thing first. I _had _to. "Fang, I have to ask you something."

"What?"

"If I did something…terrible…like, really bad…would you forgive me? Could you?" I refused to meet his eyes, which I knew were searching my darkened silhouette, trying to make sense of what I was saying.

"Max," he said, after a second that felt like an eternity. "You're my best friend. Nothing is going to change that, not now, not ever. Nothing you can do can change that."

I glanced up at him hesitantly. "So is that a yes?"

Half a smile crossed his face for a fleeting second. "Max, what did you do?"

"Nothing." _Yet. _

He reached up and tucked a lock of hair behind my ear. His fingertips lingered on my cheek, brushing against it slightly and tingling where they touched. "Max," he whispered, halfway to himself, and shook his head. "You're really weird sometimes, you know that?"

I could feel a sob rising up in my throat. How could I take this away – from him, from me? I couldn't. I wouldn't. No.

_**Max, don't do this. I forbid you. **_My second voice decided to chip in.

_Shut up, _I shot back at it, and hugged Fang tightly. I could feel his surprise at my sudden change, and before he could wrap his arms around me all the way, I turned my face to his quickly and pressed our lips together.

He was obviously surprised, but he responded all the same. Before too long, he had twined his fingers through my hair, effectively binding me closer to him. There was no way that I was able to pull away, but at that present moment in time, I didn't really care. My mind had just about blown up.

When we broke apart, breathing heavily, he stared at me for a few seconds before dropping his head onto my shoulder. "Max…" he breathed. "Max, I think…" He seemed to steel himself to say something, and I waited with bated breath. Was there something wrong? What was going on?

"…I love you," he finished. Shock emptied into my veins and made my eyes widen. He looked up at me again, and more emotion was in that one gaze than in any look he had ever given me in nearly fifteen years. He grinned, a brilliantly blinding smile that knocked the breath out of my lungs. He kissed me this time, exultantly, deliriously happy in his new discovery. He held me as tightly as if he never wanted to let go.

I didn't know what to think or what to feel. I was torn between being so happy I could nearly sing and just wanting to run away from this new thing threatening to change my life forever. Then something else popped into my head, vying for attention. Jeb had been right. Fang _did _love me. How had he known? Had it really been so obvious that everyone but me could see it?

Don't answer that.

Fang pulled away after a time, resting his forehead against mine. "Max…" he murmured. I could hear the question in his tone and knew that he was wondering how I felt, if I would run away. He would never ask that outright. Our gazes met, and now I could see his emotions clearer than ever. I had always been able to tell what he was thinking, but now it was almost as if we thought with the same mind.

"Fang?" I whispered into the darkness, trying to make sense of everything going through my head. I felt his silent acknowledgement of my half-question. "I think…" I started, and then stopped. I wasn't sure I wanted to do this. It wasn't something that I could take back, ever. Maybe that was a good thing. "What you said…I think…I feel the same. No matter what happens, that'll never change." I fervently hoped that he couldn't hear the fear or sadness in my voice. I was starting to figure something out, and I didn't like it or want to face it. I let the idea lurk in the back of my mind, tainting my thoughts.

"You love me?" It was a question. He still wasn't sure.

I nodded, and picked up the courage to look at him. "I'm not sure what love is. But whatever the heck it is, this is the closest thing I'll ever get to loving _anybody._" I looked down again, still afraid, though of what I wasn't sure. It wasn't like he would reject me. He _had_ confessed first.

He touched my hand gently. He wasn't perfect – he got angry, he could be a little rude sometimes, and he wasn't exactly America's idea of gorgeous – he was scarred everywhere. But he was Fang. My right hand man. And - as I was just realizing – I loved him. It was way too Twilight Zone for my taste.

But I couldn't turn back.

Fang got up after a few moments. "Good night, Max," he said. "I love you." I could tell that it would take him awhile to get used to saying those words.

I half smiled. "Love you too." Now _that _right there – I was _never _going to get used to saying that. Not in a million years.

When I was sure he was asleep, I closed my eyes in weary acceptance. I should be happy, I knew. Fang had told me that he _loved _me. Everything should be perfect. Except for in my life, nothing was. Instead of making me happy, the knowledge that he loved me made it harder to do what I knew I needed to.

I had a plan now. I knew what I had to do. I knew that it would hurt the Flock terribly, and that it was probably going to kill me. I had come up with a similar plan back when we were saving Angel, but thankfully I had never had to actually go through with it. Now, I knew that unless I did, sooner or later, I was going to snap. One girl can only take so much mental pressure.

_I love you, Fang. _

That's why I had to do it. No matter how much I would hate myself later. It was the only thing left to do.

Anything would be better than losing Fang.

Even death.

**A/N: -looks nervously around at her readers-**

**-readers crowd FantasyFan5 with torches and pitchforks-**

**What? WHAT??**

**Oh, yeah. Cliffie. Sorry. **

**I really hope I did the whole 'I love you, mush mush, blah blah,' scene right. They had to say it, but the whole scene has been done so many times and is now so cheesy I hated to put it in. I'm happy with it, but with scenes like that in MR, it's almost impossible to be ENTIRELY happy with it. Feel free to flame it. BUT, it is there for a good reason, which you will find out in a few chapters. **

**The last chapter is the end of part two! I'm debating on making the story complete after that and then just writing a sequel, since part three will be like a whole new story…you shall see. :D What do you guys think?**

**Um, there's something else to say…oh yeah. REVIEW!**


	32. Goodbye

It was over

It was over. No more deciding or mental debates. My mind was made up.

After Jeb had left, I'd wondered why the world was still spinning. The world was still exactly the same as it had been while we were safe and happy. It was weird that the sun was even shining. I felt pretty much the same way right now. When I knew that I was going to do something as huge as what I'd just decided, it was odd that everything was still the same.

The next morning, Fang seemed – well, not happy, but as close as Fang gets to it. I felt weird, like I was removed from my old life. Worse, around Fang I felt like an impostor. The flock was in pretty good spirits that morning, and it almost cracked a smile on my face. I knew that Gazzy and Iggy were up to _something, _because for twenty minutes that day they were off in a corner of the site by themselves, muttering about something. I caught a few words of "But what about the ammonia? What the…" and then the Gasman remembered to lower his voice. Half of my mouth quirked up in a small smile worthy of Fang. Why hadn't I savored every second of being with my family? That was a stupid move.

"So, I've been thinking," I said to Fang, after everything looked just the same as before we'd arrived last night.

He glanced at me. "What?"

"What do you say we just stay in a cave for a couple of days? You know…just as a sort of temporary home. For a little."

_**You know, you're just trying to get away from what you have to do, **_Jeb chipped in.

I ignored him. We weren't exactly on good speaking terms, you could say.

_**Max…since you've made your recent decision…I changed my mind. You're capable of making good decisions. But do it now, while you still have the resolve. **_

"Yeah…that sounds good," Fang was saying, as I shook myself out of my reverie. He grinned. "So, are you saying that you want to find a permanent home? Like I said, oh, a few _months _ago?"

I sighed and rolled my eyes. "Yeah, yeah. Rub it in, wiseass."

"I'm hurt."

"You should be." I turned away from his smug face and called to everyone else, "Guys, U and A! Let's go!"

"Alright!" cried Total, jumping into my arms. "Let's go supersonic, okay?"

"Uh, let's not," I contradicted him as I took a running start and arced into the air, smooth as poetry.

So, I'm sure you're all wondering, "I thought she said she was tense? She's not acting very uptight." Um, no freaking _duh. _I'm a great actress, don't you think? I wasn't going to act worried in front of my flock. It was like my number one rule in the _Handbook for Escaping Itex. _If there was any such thing. I should write one.

Okay, getting off topic.

"So, Max," Iggy began thoughtfully, angling his left wing to tilt closer to me. "What made you decide on the whole 'we suddenly need a permanent home' thing? I thought you were all against that."

_Oh, you know, nothing except for this super crazy voice inside my head that's trying to get me to kill my best friend. _

"Well," I hesitated. What the heck was I supposed to tell him? The truth? I don't think so. "Being on the run is hard on everyone, I guess. You shouldn't have to go through any of it anymore."

He raised an eyebrow. "Are you sick?"

"Shut up," I grumbled. He just laughed and flew up ahead to join Gazzy, who was chatting animatedly away to Nudge about some new book they were both reading. Something like _Artemis Fowl_?I don't know.

"Hey, Max, look!" Gazzy shouted. "Cave ahoy! That was fast, haven't we only been flying for like, twenty minutes?"

I shrugged and turned ten points west, towards where Gazzy was pointing. "Who cares? Let's go, guys!"

_**Max!**_

_Max!_

Both mental voices yelled in my head at the same time, Jeb and Angel's. My eyes zoomed in on Angel immediately. Her eyes were wide and scared, staring off into the distance. Quickly, I followed her gaze and cold dread dropped like a lead weight into my stomach.

A missile was headed our way, most likely heat guided. We were the only things _this _warm around here, especially in the air. I scanned the immediate area, looking for a means of escape. Trees? No. Cave? No good.

River?

Maybe…just maybe if it was cold enough…

I made one of my snap decisions and shouted, "Guys, into the river, now!" I tossed Total to Iggy, and the dog yelped indignantly before yelling as Iggy tucked his wings in and dove. Even Fang obeyed, getting away from the oncoming threat. As soon as I was sure that they wouldn't come back up, I took off – trying to lead the missile away.

I had to use every ounce of super speed I had in me – I hadn't realized just how _fast _that thing was. It was nearly right on my tail, and I'd never been as scared as I was right now. At least my plan had worked, right? It was away from my flock. At the very least, they would be safe.

_**You really need a better sense of self preservation, Max, **_Jeb reprimanded me.

_Not the best time. And besides, who was my teacher again? _I snapped, jerking to the left and down in an effort to throw off the bomb's aim. No such luck. It followed straight behind me, and I knew it wouldn't stop until it hit something – namely, me.

And then it hit me.

Got you. Not the missile – a pretty good idea.

There was a canyon to my left. If I could fly close enough to the canyon that I could get the bomb to hit that instead of me…maybe I could still get out of this _mostly _unscathed.

Well, better that than nothing. Here goes everything.

I tried to fly faster, pushing my limits. I must have been going three hundred miles an hour – that's the fastest I've ever gone. I sped towards the canyon, but the missile behind me was starting to gain ground, and I wasn't sure if this would even work.

The canyon loomed closer in my vision faster than I'd expected - an imposing wall of rock in my line of sight. I shot towards it like an arrow from a bow, and just when I was sure that I was going to splat on the face of the canyon, I flipped downwards and shot down. I was rewarded with a satisfying _BOOM _as the bomb hit the canyon, not able to steer away quickly enough.

Unfortunately, the side effect of my perfect plan was that since the bomb exploded, I was inevitably pounded with rocks. _Ow. _Why hadn't I thought of that?

I pulled out of the dive and tried to avoid all of the falling rocks unsuccessfully. I could already see bruises forming on my arms and could only imagine the damage done to my wings. I winced as another rock struck my back, halted in its path to the ground thousands of feet below.

It took awhile to get out of the destruction the bomb had caused, and even longer to find the flock again. I had flown miles and miles away, and it took awhile even flying with super speed. Needless to say, by the time I returned to my flock, they were pretty gosh danged worried.

"_Max!" _Nudge shouted, running to the mouth of the cave. "Max, what did you _do?! _We thought you were dead! I mean, I thought for sure that the bomb would have hit you and you would have died or something, but then Angel said that the world would feel different because you weren't in it, and I just didn't know if-"

"Nudge," I interrupted, "I'm back. It's okay."

Christ, this was going to make things harder for sure.

0o0o0o0o0o0

Today was absolutely the _worst _day for Fang to be able to read my mind. He knew something was up.

"Max?" he asked, after everyone but Iggy was asleep. My blind guy was steadily ignoring us and was humming under his breath in an effort to tune us out. I snorted. Iggy. What would I do if I lost him?

"Max," Fang repeated again. "What's wrong? Something's up, I can tell."

_Now, _said a voice in the back of my head (that was actually mine). _Do it now – it's the perfect time. _Yeah, sure – perfect time to shatter hearts.

"Well…" I started. "Actually. Yeah. Something IS up."

He waited. When I said nothing, he prompted, "So? What is it?"

"There was a reason I wanted to come to the cave," I said, looking at the ground rather than him. "Everything has been building up lately. I just…I don't know what to do." Silence. I was sure he was wondering where the heck I was going with this. I took a deep, shaky breath. "I feel like I'm drowning, Fang. I can't take this anymore! I thought I could, but obviously I was wrong. That bomb today just pushed me over the edge. They always find us, wherever we are. I can't stand this – we're always on the run, but it _never helps. _It just wears us down – wears _me _down. I just – _I can't." _

He grabbed my shoulders. "Max. Max, listen to me. You can do this; I know you can. Don't give up just yet. We've managed to survive so far, right?"

Tears welled up in my eyes and blurred my vision of the cave floor. I didn't want to do this, not at all. I hoped he passed them off as tears of desperation and not of regret. "That's just it. We're _managing. _We're not healthy. We're freaking starving!"

"Max, calm down. Listen to me."

This wasn't working. I had to layer more on.

I stood abruptly and finally looked at Fang. "No! I can't, Fang, don't you get this? I. Can't. I can't take this anymore! The running, the captivity, never having enough to eat, always needing _more – _I can't do this. Someone else is just going to have to save the world, because I'm going to go crazy if this keeps going on."

"Max?" I could hear Iggy say from my left. "What's going on? What are you doing?"

I didn't look at him, even though my mind was screaming for one last glance, one peek. I could only look at Fang. "I'm leaving," I said.

"NO!"

_**NO! **_

Fang and my second voice screamed at the same time, but I ignored them both.

"Max, you can't do this!" Fang shouted at me. "You can't just leave us here in the middle of nowhere. Is this why you've been so off the entire week? You've been planning _this? _Max, don't do it!"

_**Max, no! You must stay here, with the Flock. **_

_So I can kill Fang? No, thanks. _

"Just leave me _alone, _Fang!" I shouted back, tears making my voice crack. "You can't change my mind! I'm going to go crazy if I stay here!"

"Max, just wait-"

"_NO!_" I grabbed my bag, which was still fully packed. I had no food, but I wasn't thinking straight. I just had to get away from Fang, before I hurt him and the rest of the flock - more than I was about to. Me leaving was one thing – Fang dead was another entirely.

I jammed my bag onto my shoulders and whirled to face Fang. "Don't follow me," I snarled. "Any of you. If you want me to stay sane, you'll stay _away. _I don't want to have care of all of you. After all, weren't you the one who said that I could be a mother later, when I was older? I'm not meant to be a mother at fourteen to all of you!"

"Max, will you just-" He wasn't angry. He needed to be, to make this easier. He just looked desperate, and it nearly killed me. I hadn't seen that much emotion on his face _ever. _Maybe it wasn't too late. Maybe I could still stay here if it meant not having to hurt him. I could almost see the possibilities like a shining ray of light.

Suddenly, against my will, my body lurched forward towards Fang. He was standing not far from the entrance and exit of the cave. I could only watch in horror as my fist raised and connected with his nose before he could react. What the _hell? _I hadn't done that! Someone else was controlling me.

_**You have to kill Fang. You can't just leave! KILL him. Now! **_The voice lurched me forward again, in a last ditch attempt to murder my best friend.

I staggered to the left, without complete control of my legs. I narrowly missed Fang – my only sense of comfort. "Fang – I just have to do this," I said, without looking at him. I couldn't risk turning around to possibly hit him again. "I can't go through this."

"Max!" Iggy shouted. "Max, what are you _doing?" _

"Max?" asked Angel behind me. "Max, what's going on?"

"Max, Max, Max!" I shouted. "_Stop it! _You all are driving me _crazy!" _They had to _hate _me. Hate me enough so that they wouldn't look for me when I was gone. "Just shut up," I continued. "Shut. Up. All of you just leave me _alone!" _My voice rose to a yell on the last word, and I ran out of the cave and flung myself into the air.

I chanced one last glance as I flew away. They were all framed in the entry by the flickering firelight – Iggy, staring out with sightless eyes, Nudge, Angel, Gasman…and Fang. I could see the blood still streaming from his nose, and I could see that he was hurt beyond belief.

But alive. He was alive.

"Bye, guys," I whispered into the night. "See you never."

And with a twitch of a feather, I vanished at top speed into the growing night.

**A/N: I'm sorry. Really. I am. It was a bad ending. **

**BUT THERE'S A SEQUEL! Yeah, I decided that. So this is officially complete! I'm so excited. ((Readers stare at FF5 in disbelief, wondering how she's so excited when Max has jut LEFT the flock))**

**Well…because the sequel is going to be freaking AWESOME, that's why!**

**Thanks to everyone who has supported me in this fic. It means a ton to me. Special thanks to all reviewers, especially ****melissaeverlasting, ****who would **_**gently **_**remind me when it had been a little long since I had updated. :-) I know there are LOTS of you who have been with me since the beginning of last June, so thanks for that too!**

**Since it's the last chapter (holy crap!), I'd really like for everyone who has me on alert to review. That would be amazing! It really only takes a little time, and it doesn't have to be long. **

**This concludes the final (and long) author's note! THANKS, ALL OF YOU! See you at the sequel! (Put me on alert!) **

**FantasyFan5 **


	33. Author's Note Sequel

Hey, guys! FF5 here. If you already know about the sequel, you can ignore this.

So, I wasn't sure if everyone knew that the sequel was up, so I decided to just post a note. It was easier than PMing all of my alerts and favorites. =D

Anyway. Yes, the sequel is up, for those who didn't know, and has been for awhile. ((cowers in shame)) Sorry I didn't think of this earlier. It's called _The Final Adventure 2: Ace in the Hole, _and was actually just updated a few days ago.

If you didn't know about it – check it out! I'd love to hear your feedback on the sequel. If you did – well, leave a review anyway and make me happy. ((grins)) Viva la Flock! (Just felt like saying that. Don't you love my craziness?)

Peace and love,

FantasyFan5


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